Reuters

Military action is not a "magic wand" that can be used to resolve the international community's standoff with Iran over its nuclear programme, French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said on Thursday.

He said the international community must look at what tools can be used to put pressure on Iran but said military action in Iraq and the Middle East showed that it was not a solution.

"My conviction is that military action is certainly no solution," Villepin told a monthly news conference.

"You know as I do the situation in the Middle East, in Iraq and the Near East, the idea that by waving the magic wand for a military shortcut we are going to solve the Iranian problem doesn't seem to me today to be something to talk about."

When he was foreign minister, Villepin led the French campaign against military action in Iraq.

The United States, which accuses Iran of seeking nuclear weapons, says it wants the standoff solved diplomatically but has refused to rule out military action. Iran says it is only pursuing nuclear power generation.

The United States, Britain and France, have circulated a UN Security Council resolution demanding that Iran curb its nuclear ambitions and said they will push for targeted sanctions if it does not.

Villepin said the international community must find a "credible," "firm" and "united" way to put pressure on Iran.

"It's a question of finding a solution that will allow us to control things on the ground, to be able to assure ourselves that there is no proliferation without crossing the military line," he said.

Russia, which has veto power in the council, made clear on Wednesday it would not support any sanctions or the new resolution without modifications. The Western draft did not impose punitive measures.