In a speech before the National Assembly, Villepin said: “It is now up to Iran to assume its responsibilities.”
“Iran’s response to the offer made by the international community is insufficient, notably concerning the need to suspend enrichment,” the prime minister said.
But he said that “alongside the whole of the international community we favour today the course of dialogue.”
There was “no solution other than a political one,” he said.
The government in Teheran is technically open to the threat of economic sanctions, after it failed to meet a UN deadline of August 31 to suspend its uranium enrichment programme.
