BULLETIN, AT 9:37 A.M. ET:  We reported earlier a strange deal on the Iranian nuclear program, negotiated by Little Leaguers Turkey and Brazil.  We cautioned that this was the kind of deal that had to be looked at with four or five eyes.  France has apparently taken the first look:

PARIS, May 17 (Reuters) - A Turkish-Brazilian deal to help Iran swap nuclear fuel might boost international trust in Tehran, but it would do nothing to resolve problems over Iran's nuclear programme, the French Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said France wanted to see details of the accord, announced earlier on Monday, before judging its merits.

"However, let us not deceive ourselves, a solution to the (fuel) question, if it happens, would do nothing to settle the problem posed by the Iranian nuclear programme," he said in a statement.

COMMENT:  That is a clear signal, being sent from Paris to Washington, that France expects the United States to take a tough stand, and not buckle under to an obviously inadequate deal.  The fact that France was the first major nation to take a stand reveals 1) that French President Sarkozy is a new kind of French leader, who can be trusted and,  2) that Sarkozy has little use for Obama's soft-line foreign policy and wants to preempt it.  Indeed, it's hardly a secret that Sarkozy has little regard for Obama.

We hope other nations will follow France's lead (I'm amazed I'm saying that), and continue the drive for tough sanctions on Iran.  That drive will likely fail, leaving President Obama with perhaps the most critical foreign-policy decision of his presidency.

May 17, 2010