Sarkozy warns Iran it risks Israeli attack

By Francois Murphy and Emmanuel Jarry

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned Iran on Thursday it was taking a dangerous gamble in seeking to develop nuclear weapons because one day its arch-foe Israel could strike.

Western powers accuse Iran of seeking the atom bomb under the cover of a civilian nuclear programme but Tehran insists it only wants to master atomic technology to generate electricity.

The United States and Israel have not ruled out military action if the dispute cannot be settled through diplomacy.

"Iran is taking a major risk in continuing the process to obtain a military nuclear capacity," Sarkozy told a meeting in Damascus with the leaders of Syria, Turkey and Qatar.

"One day, whatever the Israeli government, we could find one morning that Israel has struck," Sarkozy added.

"The question is not whether it would be legitimate, whether it would be intelligent. What will we do at that moment? It would be a catastrophe. We must avoid that catastrophe," Sarkozy told the meeting in comments broadcast on television.

Fears of an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities have risen since Israel staged an air force exercise in June which was reported to be a simulation of a strike against Iran.

The French president has asked Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to help resolve the standoff with Iran, a close ally of Syria, and Assad has pledged to help seek a solution.