Iran must suspend enrichment before talks -Chirac

NEW YORK, Sep 19 (Reuters) French President Jacques Chirac today said Iran must suspend uranium enrichment, a process which can produce fuel for power plants or bombs, before talks aimed at defusing a nuclear standoff can go ahead.

France, Britain, Germany, the United States, Russia and China have presented Iran with a package of incentives aimed at convincing Tehran to abandon its enrichment programme. Suspending that programme was a precondition for talks.

''There can be no talks without, beforehand ... a halt to nuclear enrichment by the Iranians,'' Chirac said after a meeting with US President George W Bush.

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