And the leading Socialist candidate for President in France wants absolutely no nuclear power in Iran, not even for Tehran's oft-claimed "peaceful purposes."

Credited by many as the winner of the final debate, Laurent Fabius allied himself with Dominique Strauss-Kahn on the issue of Iran, stating that Iran cannot be asked to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and then be told not to use nuclear power for civil reasons. Both candidates insisted Iran be allowed to continue nuclear research for energy under strict conditions, while Ségolène Royal ruled out any use of nuclear power in Iran, preferring that electrical energy cooperation be favoured instead. Her opponents were visibly shocked by her proposals, reminding her that Iran had signed the non-proliferation treaty already.

A French Socialist taking a harder line on Iran than the Bush Administration? I think I might be falling in love. (Okay, so she also recommended that France should share an aircraft carrier with Great Britain. Nobody's perfect.)

Mark Steyn had written a while back about how political labels in Europe are particularly useless, illustrating that Tony Blair is technically of the left, Jacques Chirac is technically of the right, and yet the lefty has a much better relationship with President Bush than the righty. How unexpected would it be if Iran found itself facing a more hostile continental Europe in the near future, headed in part by righty Angela Merkel in Germany and lefty Segolene Royal in France?