STRASBOURG: Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said Tuesday the warning by President Jacques Chirac that France could respond with nuclear weapons to state-sponsored terrorism was a necessary deterrent to protect the country from an attack. Chirac warned in January that leaders who would envisage using arms of mass destruction would expose themselves to a “fitting” response - conventional or other - from France. He said there should be no doubt about France’s will and capacity to use nuclear arms if its vital interests were threatened. Alliot-Marie suggested that France would extend its nuclear protection to European allies. “France is a nuclear power. We have indicated we are willing to strike if one of our neighbors’ existence was threatened. It’s a deterrent, but of course you must be willing to use it for it to be a deterrent,” Alliot-Marie told a European Parliament committee. “Nuclear protection is our protection, the protection we prefer today,” she said. Chirac drew scorching criticism in Europe for his comments, which had sent a warning to countries like Iran and sought to nip in the bud domestic debate about whether deeply indebted France still needs its expensive nuclear deterrent in the post-Cold War world. France’s nuclear arsenal is considered a purely dissuasive means and is not intended for a normal battle situation.