French President Nicolas Sarkozy says Iran must comply by December or face sanctions

September 25th, 2009 PITTSBURGH/VIENNA - Hours after it was confirmed that Iran has a second, previously unknown, nuclear enrichment plant, US President Barack Obama Friday said the size of the new plant was "inconsistent" with Iranian claims that it was being used to produce civilian nuclear power. Speaking at the G20 summit and standing alongside British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Obama said the "disturbing" news of the second facility demonstrates Tehran's willingness to deceive the world and violate international norms.

September 25th, 2009 PITTSBURGH - US President Barack Obama said Friday the size of a second Iranian nuclear plant revealed this week is "inconsistent" with claims that it is being used to produce civilian nuclear power. Speaking at the G20 summit and standing alongside British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Obama said the "disturbing" news of the second facility demonstrates Tehran's willingness to deceive the world and violate international norms.

September 25th, 2009 PITTSBURGH - The US, Britain and France Friday charged Iran with defying the UN Security Council and warned of sanctions if Tehran refuses the International Atomic Energy Agency to access a new uranium enrichment facility. "This site deepens a growing concern that Iran is refusing to live up to those international responsibilities, including specifically revealing all nuclear-related activities," President Barack Obama said.

September 17th, 2009 France: EU calls for global cap on bank payBRUSSELS — French President Nicolas Sarkozy says that EU leaders have agreed to impose a cap on bankers' pay. He told reporters that all 27 EU nations are in "total unity" that the world cannot repeat the "scandal" of bonuses for executives and traders that encouraged banks to take huge risks.

August 31st, 2009 BERLIN - German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy Monday called for tougher sanctions against Iran, if the country fails enter talks on its nuclear programme ahead of a September deadline. "We have supported (US) President Obama's outstretched hand to the Iranian leaders, but this hand cannot remain extended indefinitely to leaders who do not respond," Sarkozy added.

August 31st, 2009 Germany, France reinforce Iran sanctions threatBERLIN — Germany and France on Monday reinforced a call for Iran to respond to concerns about its nuclear program in September or face tougher sanctions, and said they wanted wide international agreement on those measures. German Chancellor Angela Merkel pointed to a Group of Eight leaders' agreement in July to reevaluate their position on Iran at a G-20 summit in late September.

August 26th, 2009 Syria, Iran key questions at French envoy meetingPARIS — President Nicolas Sarkozy will lay out his diplomatic strategies for Iran, Syria and other key areas, in a speech to France's ambassadors Wednesday overshadowed by the uncertain plight of two Frenchwomen charged in Iran with fomenting unrest. Sarkozy took a diplomatic risk in seeking Syria's help earlier this month in winning the release of French researcher Clotilde Reiss and embassy employee Nazak Afshar.

August 12th, 2009 PARIS - French President Nicolas Sarkozy Tuesday urged the European Union to impose tougher sanctions on Myanmar, denouncing a court ruling against democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi as "brutal and unjust", his office said in a statement. "The Burmese (Myanmar) authorities have shown with this iniquitous ruling their decision to ignore pressing messages from the international community," Sarkozy said in the statement.

July 29th, 2009 PARIS - French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Wednesday that his recent collapse while jogging was just a matter of running out of gas. "I ran out of gas, the way everyone one does," Sarkozy told journalists at the Elysee Palace after a meeting of his cabinet.

July 26th, 2009 Sarkozy hospitalized after feeling unwell on jogPARIS — French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office says he was rushed by helicopter to a military hospital Sunday after he felt unwell during a strenuous jog on a hot afternoon. Military doctors performed a battery of tests on the 54-year-old president after the episode at a presidential residence outside the capital.

July 26th, 2009 PARIS - French President Nicolas Sarkozy was taken to hospital Sunday after falling ill while exercising, French media reports said. France Info radio said the incident occurred before noon at his residence in Versailles.

July 7th, 2009 Sarkozy urges release of Frenchwoman held in IranPARIS — President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday demanded that Iran free a young French teacher detained after taking photos of Iranian protests and dismissed Iranian accusations that she was spying as "high fantasy." Clotilde Reiss, 23, was arrested July 1 at the Tehran airport as she was about to leave Iran after five months of studying and teaching French at Isfahan University, and accused of espionage, according to French Foreign Ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier. "These accusations of espionage are high fantasy," Sarkozy said at a Paris news conference with Brazil's president.

July 6th, 2009 LONDON - One of the last two British Embassy employees, held in Iran on the alleged charges of being behind last month's post-election violence in the country, has been released. The British Foreign Office on Monday confirmed the news, but added that embassy's chief political analyst Hossein Rassam is still under detention.

June 7th, 2009 Obama, Sarkozy disagree Turkey's entry to EUCAEN, France — President Barack Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy don't see eye to eye on whether Turkey should be allowed to join the European Union. Obama supports EU membership for the largely Muslim country.

June 4th, 2009 PARIS - French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned Iran Wednesday that it faces increasing isolation from the international community if it refuses to negotiate over its nuclear programme. Sarkozy, who met with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki in Paris, said Iran must respect UN resolutions and only negotiations would pave the way for cooperation.