De Villepin: forced must not be used against Iran: "'Regime change cannot be a policy on its own in today's world,' he says bluntly. 'You have to be respectful of sovereignty... "But you have to have the support of the international community. You need to have at a certain point the support of the UN. So this is a matter of unity. If there is one country that imagines it can just solve this matter just alone, we are going to see more vengeance, more difficulties, more problems, and the world is going to be more unstable."

"Asked if he could envisage a situation in which France might support military intervention against Iran to curb its alleged nuclear ambitions, he is equally forthright. "You don't speak about military action just like that," he says. "I must say we have enough problems with Iraq not to open a new front in Iran. This would be absolutely ridiculous... My conviction and my belief is that if we imagine we are going to address this situation by force, we are totally mistaken.""

De Villepin: forced must not be used against Iran: "'Regime change cannot be a policy on its own in today's world,' he says bluntly. 'You have to be respectful of sovereignty... "But you have to have the support of the international community. You need to have at a certain point the support of the UN. So this is a matter of unity. If there is one country that imagines it can just solve this matter just alone, we are going to see more vengeance, more difficulties, more problems, and the world is going to be more unstable."

"Asked if he could envisage a situation in which France might support military intervention against Iran to curb its alleged nuclear ambitions, he is equally forthright. "You don't speak about military action just like that," he says. "I must say we have enough problems with Iraq not to open a new front in Iran. This would be absolutely ridiculous... My conviction and my belief is that if we imagine we are going to address this situation by force, we are totally mistaken.""