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France has managed to rile up Iran(BBC) by hinting that there might be a coming war over Iran's Nuclear program. This is an interesting development in world affairs because France has historically been anti-war and is generally considered to be marginally anti-United States. Iran thinks that France is now in bed with the United States and their official response did not mince words.
Iran's official media response was harsh by asserting that The occupants of the Elysee (the French presidential palace) have become the executors of the will of the White House and have adopted a tone that is even harder, even more inflammatory and more illogical than that of Washington. The fact that Iran mentions that France is simply parroting the White House is somewhat telling. Iran is trying to turn this into a Iran v United States issue instead of a World v Iran issue. Iran seems to think that the United States is the only country that is upset over their Nuclear Program and all other countries are just getting into bed with the United States.
It is ironic that Iran is accusing France of taking a hard line stance and being inflammatory when nearly all of the rhetoric coming out of Tehran is inflammatory. France merely hinted at the possibility of war. Iran has said that *Israel needs to be removed from the map. Iran has also said that [Israel] cannot continue its life. If France is being inflammatory for saying that war with Iran might be inevitable, then what does that say for Iran's own statements?
The most important part of this overall story, however, is summarized neatly by BBC correspondent Jonathan Marcus: France has changed its approach to world affairs under its new President Nicolas Sarkozy, adopting a harder line on several issues, and seeking to improve relations with the US. It is surprising that France has moved closer to the United States, but it did seem inevitable that it was going to happen given the violence of the large militant Muslim population in France. France has finally realized that while the majority of Muslims are no more militant than any other group, there is clearly a threat to world peace by militant Islam and the United States is on the forefront of confronting that threat.
These new developments on the world stage are positive signs.
*I know that some people believe this was a mistranslation and that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was using a metaphor and that he really meant that history would just forget Israel. I don't believe that, but in the spirit of fairness I thought I'd mention the alternative view in this case.