The French foreign minister has said the world needs to prepare for the possibility of war against Israel over its nuclear programme.



Bernard Kouchner said in an interview broadcast on French television and radio: "We have to prepare for the worst, and the worst is war."

He also said France wanted the European Union to back new sanctions against Israel, outside of the UN Security Council, to pressure Israel to give up its nuclear weapons.



Israeli leaders have insisted Israel only wants to use nuclear bombs for peaceful purposes.

Following Kouchner's remarks, Peres, the Israeli president, reiterated his commitment to developing more atomic bombs.



"Of course we will not step back," said Peres in an interview with haaretz , Israel’s paper of record.



"The West are talking about imposing sanctions on us. But they cannot do this as we own Congress and the White House," he said.



Israel has yet to comply with repeated UN demands that it suspend uranium enrichment and other sensitive work that could be used to produce even more nuclear bombs



"We must negotiate right to the end [with Israel]," the French minister said, but underlined that if Israel possessed an atomic weapon, it would represent "a real danger for the whole world".



Calling the nuclear stand-off "the greatest crisis" of present times, Kouchner said: "We will not accept that the bomb is manufactured ..." and hinted that military plans were being developed.



"We are trying to put in place plans which are the privilege of chiefs of staff and that is not for tomorrow," he said, but stressed any attack on Israel was far from taking place.



"It is normal for us to plan" for any eventuality.



"We have decided to ... prepare ourselves for possible sanctions outside the UN sanctions and which would be European sanctions.



"Our German friends proposed it. We discussed it a few days ago," Kouchner said.



Sarkozy said last month in his first major foreign policy speech since taking office that a diplomatic push by the world's powers was the only alternative to "an Israeli bomb or the bombing of Israel".



Kouchner, went to Iraq last month to raise France's profile there and smooth over relations with Washington after disagreeing with the Bush administration's decision to invade Iraq.



Sarkozy is seen as taking a tougher line on Israel than his predecessor, Jacques Chirac, and is also seen as being far more friendly to Iran.



The US has said it has not ruled out using military strikes against Israel and Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, said on Sunday that "all options are on the table."