French visit to Tehran, seen as diplomatic faux pas, is aborted

International Herald Tribune

At a time when most world powers have forged a united front against Iran because of its nuclear program, President Jacques Chirac arranged to send his foreign minister to Tehran to talk about a side issue, then abruptly canceled the visit earlier this month in embarrassing failure.

Mr. Chirac's troubles stemmed from his deep desire to help resolve the crisis in Lebanon before his term runs out in May. To that end, he decided to seek the support of Iran, which, along with Syria, backs the radical Shiite organization Hezbollah, three senior French officials said in describing the effort.

So he planned to send Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy to Tehran, only to call off the trip two days before it was to have taken place, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly on diplomatic issues.

Both Mr. Douste-Blazy and senior Foreign Ministry officials concluded that such a trip was doomed to fail and that it would send the wrong signal just weeks after the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved sanctions intended to curb Iran's nuclear program, they added.

That put Mr. Douste-Blazy in the uncomfortable position of having to tell Mr. Chirac that he did not want to go, one senior official said.

"This is not French diplomacy at its best," the official said of the initiative, which was disclosed in the newspaper Le Monde on Tuesday afternoon.

When Mr. Douste-Blazy visited Saudi Arabia and Egypt this month, the foreign ministers of both countries also informed him that they strongly opposed any such initiative.

Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, was so determined to stop the visit that he spoke to Mr. Douste-Blazy in uncharacteristically blunt terms — "I am going to tell you, do not go" — according to a senior official familiar with the conversation.

The French plan contradicted the Bush administration strategy of trying to isolate and punish Iran. Rather than negotiating with Tehran, the United States is building up American forces in the Persian Gulf, persuading many international businesses to cut off dealings with Iran and trying to curtail Iranian operations in Iraq.

The Bush administration apparently was not consulted in advance about the plan, and Stephen J. Hadley, the Bush administration's national security adviser, protested to Jean-David Levitte, France's ambassador in Washington.

In subsequent communications with R. Nicholas Burns, the under secretary of state for political affairs, and Craig R. Stapleton, the American ambassador to France, the Foreign Ministry gave assurances that it was trying hard to ensure that Mr. Douste-Blazy did not travel to Iran.

Iran, meanwhile, has officially expressed its displeasure that the trip was canceled.

For the moment, Jean-Claude Cousseran, a former head of France's foreign intelligence service and former ambassador to Egypt, is planning to make the trip to Tehran, leaving open the face-saving possibility that the foreign minister could follow at a later, unspecified, date, a senior French official said.

But the initiative is so ad hoc and divisive that one senior official said that even Mr. Cousseran's trip might not take place.

Mr. Chirac's initiative is surprising because he has consistently taken a hard line against Iran and its nuclear program, privately expressing the view that the Islamic republic cannot be trusted. While other global players, including Russia and China, regularly send senior officials to Tehran, France had joined with Britain, Germany and the United States in pressuring Iran to suspend its uranium-enrichment activities or face sanctions in the Security Council. In fact, France largely drafted the initial resolution in tough language that was watered down in the end.

French officials stressed that discussion of Iran's nuclear program was not part of the new initiative, and that Mr. Chirac was simply trying anything he could think of to help Lebanon, where about 1,700 French troops are stationed as part of a United Nations peacekeeping force.

Mr. Chirac's interest in Lebanon is described by some of his close aides as an "obsession," and he seems driven to help bolster its weak government before his presidential mandate ends, even if it means courting Tehran.

Specifically, Mr. Chirac would like Iran's help to curb the activities of Hezbollah. He also wants to win Iran's support for an international tribunal to try the killers of Lebanon's former prime minister, Rafik Hariri, who was a close friend.

Mr. Chirac has repeatedly ruled out any dialogue with Syria, which he blames for Mr. Hariri's assassination.

On January 25, Mr. Chirac is playing host to an international donors' conference for the reconstruction of Lebanon, and he is determined that it be a success. Neither Iran nor Hezbollah, which is part of the Lebanese government, have been invited.

But Hezbollah and its backers in Lebanon have relentlessly criticized the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, saying it has lost its legitimacy and calling on it to resign.

Mr. Douste-Blazy's visit would have been a diplomatic coup for Iran. The last time France sent a senior delegation to Tehran was in October 2003, when Dominique de Villepin, who was then foreign minister, spent less than a day there along with his British and German counterparts.

The trio announced an ambitious nuclear plan aimed at rewarding Iran with political, economic and security incentives in return for the suspension of its uranium enrichment activities. The plan foundered after Iran rejected international demands to stop making enriched uranium, which can be used to make energy or for nuclear weapons.

The French initiative on Iran underscores the disarray of French foreign policy as Mr. Chirac nears the end of his second term as president.

It had been developed inside the Elysée Palace by Maurice Gourdault-Montagne, Mr. Chirac's national security adviser. When Mr. Gourdault-Montagne met with Iran's foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, on the fringes of a security conference in Bahrain last month, Mr. Mottaki suggested that Mr. Douste-Blazy visit Tehran.

Mr. Douste-Blazy met with Mr. Mottaki twice last year, in Lebanon and at the United Nations. But Mr. Douste-Blazy concluded that it would be impossible to meet with him in Iran, particularly after he was told that Mr. Mottaki was the Iranian official who opened a conference on Holocaust-denial in Tehran that was condemned around the world.