French FM hits out at US policy of regime change

De Villepin also said that despite Thursday's UN Security Council resolution authorizing a multinational force in Iraq, "the conditions for real progress on the reconstruction of Iraq are not complied with today."

Interviewed in Britain's left-of-centre Guardian daily, the foreign minister said that any military action against Iran over its alleged nuclear weapons programme would be "absolutely ridiculous".

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On Iraq, he said: "Reconstruction has to have a partner, you have to have real sovereignty in Iraq if you want to have the Iraqi people working with you."

De Villepin declined to commit France to providing reconstruction assistance at next week's donors' conference in Madrid.

On the subject of US foreign policy, de Villepin said: "Regime change cannot be a policy on its own in today's world. You have to be respectful of sovereignty."

"Of course, there are very difficult situations when human rights are concerned... we have known that in Kosovo.

"So in rare situations, we have to address these kinds of problems by military means. But you have to have the support of the international community."

He added: "If there is one country that imagines it can solve this matter alone, we are going to see more vengeance, more difficulties, more problems, and the world is going to be more unstable."

While emphasising France's desire to patch up relations with the US and to work with it on a range of international issues, the foreign minister also questioned Israel's US-backed security policies.

"I think that Israeli policy during the past months and years shows clearly that if you are going to imagine that only through security you are going to find solutions, you are mistaken."

He added: "We think that using force, on the contrary, is going to... give new reasons to some people to oppose us."