Chirac said that?

The interesting point about this article is not that Israel is hinting that it will take military action to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear capability.

The interesting thing is Jacques Chirac, of all people, warning that France would respond with nuclear weapons if attacked by terrorists. Wonders never cease!

But even that isn't the real story. Even more interesting- and revealing- is Iran's response. For that, you have to read between the lines- but not very closely:

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Saturday that Chirac's threats reflect the true intentions of nuclear nations, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

"The French president uncovered the covert intentions of nuclear powers in using this lever (nuclear weapons) to determine political games," IRNA quoted Asefi as saying.

Such a defensive response to a statement specifically addressed to the use of nuclear weapons by terrorists sounds like a Freudian slip. I wonder if Asefi realizes that he just came awfully close to admitting that developing nuclear weapons and supplying them to terrorists is exactly what Iran has in mind. Otherwise, why would Iran feel threatened by Chirac's remark?

And remember, this is Jacques Chirac- the Neville Chamberlain of the twenty-first century!

But Chirac's remarks are heartening, anyway. It sounds like it's not going to be just Israel and the U.S. saying "no" to the madmen in Iran. It's going to be the world.

But on the other hand, the world said no to Saddam Hussein, too- and backed down. And backed down. And backed down. And backed down. And backed down. And backed down. And backed down. And backed down. And backed down. And backed down. And backed down. And backed down. And backed down. And backed down. And backed down. And backed down. And backed down.

Each "and backed down" in the previous paragraph stands for one UN Security Council resolution all but unenforced over a period of twelve years- until the United States finally got tired of the craven cowardice and ineffectuallity and unilaterally enforced all seventeen, and the peace treaty which ended the First Gulf War as well. And Chirac and company condemned us- but only after Dominique de Villepin told Colin Powell that France would back us in the Security Council on the use of force, and then stabbed us in the back.

As I say, this Chirac's France, and what it says when it talks tough should be taken with a grain of salt the size of Mt. Everest. But I don't think there's any real doubt where Iran is headed with this- or that Israel and the United States aren't going to let Iran go there. And who knows? Maybe even Chirac will show some guts this time. And maybe France's word will turn out to be good for something, for a change.

ADDENDUM: Here is the official response to Chirac's words, as reported in the Tehran Times. There can be no doubt that Iran's defensive- and revealing- response is the considered reaction of the government of the Islamic Republic.