Iran ready to invite French foreign minister for talks

TEHRAN, September 23 (RIA Novosti) - Tehran is willing to invite France's foreign minister to the country for discussions on regional problems, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.

Bernard Kouchner sparked controversy last Sunday by saying France should be prepared for war against Iran over its refusal to halt its nuclear program. However, he later played down the comments, and said he would be willing to visit Iran.

A spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry, Mohammad Ali Hosseini, said: "We see no obstacles to the foreign minister's visit to Iran."

Consultations on various levels will help achieve "deep understanding of Iran's realities, and the essence of the region's problems," he said.

Amid mounting frustration over Iran's refusal to halt its nuclear program, the French foreign minister provoked anger in the Islamic Republic in a hawkish interview broadcast on French TV and radio, saying that if Tehran develops an atom bomb, "we must prepare ourselves for the worst," and adding: "the worst means war."

However, in a telephone conversation on Friday with the head of Iran's Security Council, Ali Larijani, he said there must be "constructive cooperation" with Iran on resolving the nuclear issue, and pledged to do everything possible to avoid conflict.

Iran's Foreign Ministry said on Monday that Kouchner's initial statements were out of line with EU policy regarding the Islamic Republic and could harm Paris's influence in the Middle East.

However, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Tehran did not take the controversial comments seriously. "Statements made for the media differ from actual statements, so we don't take such threats seriously," he said.

France is one of the six countries meditating the Iranian nuclear issue (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany).

Western countries suspect Iran of pursuing a secret nuclear weapons program, but the Islamic Republic recently intensified cooperation with the IAEA, and invited weapons inspectors to visit a 40-MW heavy water reactor in Arak in late July.

Iran has defied three consecutive UN resolutions against its nuclear program since last year. The six negotiating countries have demanded that Tehran suspend all uranium enrichment before negotiating a solution to the dispute.

Ahmadinejad announced in early April the start of uranium enrichment on an industrial scale.