Jacques Chirac has broken ranks with the other Western powers over their strategy of containing Iran on the eve of a summit of world leaders in New York.

The French President said that world powers should abandon the idea of sanctions and in return Iran should agree to give up its programme of uranium enrichment while discussions between the two sides took place.

The US is leading proposals to impose sanctions on Iran if it refuses to halt its nuclear programme, which it is feared may be used to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran insists that its aims are peaceful and its research is for the purpose of generating power.

But now, ahead of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York where he will come face to face with President Bush, M Chirac said that the six nations involved in the matter - France, Germany, Britain, Russia, China and the US – should set an agenda for talks, with both sides removing the burden of threats.

"We must, on the one hand, together, Iran and the six countries, meet and set an agenda, then start negotiations. Then, during these negotiations, I suggest that the six renounce referring (Iran to) the UN Security Council and that Iran renounce uranium enrichment during negotiations," he said in an interview with Europe-1 radio.

"I don’t believe in a solution without dialogue.

"I am not pessimistic. I think that Iran is a great nation, an old culture, an old civilisation, and that we can find solutions through dialogue."

It was the first time a European leader has clearly stated that suspending uranium enrichment - a key step to building nuclear weapons - was not a pre-condition for opening negotiations, with M Chirac indicating that the suspension should come during rather than before talks.

M Chirac said that should sanctions be unavoidable, they should be moderate.

He added that he had no plans to meet with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad while in New York, saying he "deplores" the anti-Israeli remarks made by the Iranian leader who has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map".

"I have very clearly stated that ... the conditions for a personal dialogue have not been fulfilled," M Chirac said.

Commenting on his country’s ties with the US, he said that he had very good relations with Mr Bush, but added: "In our relations we can only be equals. It cannot be a relationship of submission."

Charles Bremner, Times correspondent in Paris, said that M Chirac’s comments showed that the President was keen to assert his country’s standing in Middle Eastern affairs after his display of French diplomacy over the crisis in Lebanon.

"This is Chirac asserting himself on the eve of his meeting with Bush; he is reasserting France’s presence on the world stage and in the UN," he said.

"Lebanon diplomacy in August was an opportunity for France to re-establish its presence as a player in the Middle East.

"The French feel they need to be seen to be calming the Americans. Chirac is calculating that Iran is ready to talk and could be persuaded to make concessions."

He added that M Chirac’s comments were unlikely to antagonise dramatically the relationship with the White House even further since the two countries fell out over the war in Iraq in 2003.

"Since then they have got back to normal business but the damage from 2003 has still not been repaired."

It is not just France that the US faces resistance from on the issue of imposing sanctions. Last week, Germany said it was hopeful about further talks and China warned that sanctions might inflame the volatile situation, although it acknowledged it did not want to see Iran get nuclear weapons.

Russia raised the possibility of sanctions but only after holding additional talks with the Iranians.

Meanwhile, Reza Aghazadeh, the Iranian Vice-President, said that his country was ready "for negotiations and political compromise."

However, he gave a warning at the same time saying that any "hostile action by the Security Council would lead to a limitation of cooperation" with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN’s nuclear watchdog.

Mohammed ElBaradei, head of the IAEA, called for talks between Iran and the six powers to take place as soon as possible, and said that he was "hopeful" about negotiations.

He noted, however, Iran’s failure to meet an August 31 deadline imposed by the Security Council to suspend uranium enrichment activities. That suspension had been a precondition to talks with the six powers.

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