France urges Iran to stop sensitive nuclear work

ALGIERS, Apr 10 (Reuters) - France urged Iran today to halt sensitive nuclear activity as European foreign ministers started reviewing possible sanctions against Tehran.

''It seems to us essential that Iran suspend sensitive nuclear activity as the whole international community wants it to do,'' French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told reporters at a press conference on an official visit to Algiers.

''We also think that it is necessary to listen perfectly to what the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency says,'' he added.

Douste-Blazy spoke after a New Yorker magazine article by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh said Washington was stepping up planning for a possible bombing campaign against Iran, despite publicly pushing for a negotiated settlement.

''France considers that Iran is entitled to have access to nuclear energy for peaceful ends. We have always thought that negotiations were possible,'' he said when asked whether France would back military action.

Blazy's comments came ahead of a meeting in Luxembourg of European Union foreign ministers to discuss a draft confidential paper that includes possible sanctions against Tehran.

Iran insists it only wants nuclear technology for power generation. Washington believes Iran is trying to build an atomic bomb. The United States refuses to rule out military options to deal with what it says is one of the world's biggest threats.

Appeals from the United States, already bogged down fighting a bloody insurgency in Iraq, for sanctions on Iran have been frustrated by the reluctance of fellow U.N. Security Council veto-holders Russia and China to take such action.

Among possible measures envisaged in the paper, first reported by Britain's Financial Times, are travel bans on Iranian officials, an end to export credit guarantees for European companies doing business with Tehran and restrictions on young Iranians studying sensitive technologies in Europe.

But E.U. foreign policy chief Javier Solana told reporters in Luxemburg the plan was not for an immediate imposition of sanctions.

REUTERS SRS VC2248