Sarkozy warns Iran on nuclear talks

By Francois Murphy

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned Iran on Wednesday it faced deeper international isolation if it did not agree soon to talks with the world's biggest powers on Tehran's nuclear programme.

Sarkozy agreed to a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Wednesday at which French officials said Mottaki would deliver a message from the "highest Iranian authorities" on the highly disputed nuclear programme.

But before Mottaki had left the building, Sarkozy's office issued a statement suggesting no breakthrough was made and urging Iran to seize the chance for talks with the powers -- France, Britain, Germany, the United States, Russia and China.

"He (Sarkozy) underlined the importance and seriousness of the initiative by the 'six'," the French statement said, urging Iran to accept talks offered by the powers.

"Failing that, Iran will expose itself to constantly growing international pressure on all levels," it added. The U.N. Security Council has passed several rounds of sanctions against Iran for failing to heed calls to suspend uranium enrichment.

The six powers have offered Iran a package of economic and other incentives in exchange for which they want Iran to stop enriching uranium, a process that can produce fuel for power plants or, potentially, a nuclear weapon.

They have invited Iran to talks and asked that it suspend its uranium enrichment work while initial negotiations take place, but Iran has so far rejected the advances.

The powers suspect Iran is secretly developing the ability to produce a nuclear weapon, but Iran says it only wants to master atomic technology to generate electricity.