(IsraelNN.com) Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama's stand on Iran is "utterly immature," French President Nicolas Sarkozy told Israel, according to the Hebrew-language daily Haaretz. Sarkozy has clearly stated that Iran's nuclear sites could be bombed if Tehran develops a nuclear weapon, but he has expressed fears that Sen. Obama, if elected President, would oppose such a move.

The United States and the other four permanent members of the United Nations Security Council have spoken with one voice against Iran's nuclear program and have backed sanctions designed to persuade the Islamic Republic to abandon the process. However, French President Sarkozy expressed worry that Sen. Obama might open direct dialogue with Iran "without preconditions."

President Sarkozy this week told an annual conference of French ambassadors that Iran's nuclear intentions "are without doubt the most serious crisis that weighs today on the international scene," according to the London Times.

Offering incentives to Tehran to halt weapons development "is the only one that can enable us to escape an alternative that I say is catastrophic: the Iranian bomb or the bombing of Iran," he said.

His reported comments that Sen. Obama's policies on Iran are based on "formulations empty of all content" have not spared United States President George W. Bush from criticism, whom Sarkozy censured for the invasion of Iraq.