The French minister said holding dialogue with Iran was necessary, warning of a possible confrontation with Tehran and the Islamic world if the nuclear issue was not appropriately addressed.

"The worst thing would be to build up a confrontation between Iran and the Islamic world, and the West," he said.

But Douste-Blazy also said Iran's response to the six-nation package of incentives was unsatisfactory.

"The response is a very detailed and very complex 21-page document that we're studying with our European, Russian and Chinese partners," he said.

"Frankly speaking, they [Iranians] say very clearly that they want negotiations, [but] at the same time that they don't want to suspend [uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities]. However,[UN] Resolution 1696 obliges them to suspend all uranium enrichment activities before Aug. 31," he said.

On Tuesday, Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani hand-delivered the official response to the six-nation package to the ambassadors from Europe, China and Russia in Tehran, without indicating whether Iran was prepared to suspend enrichment.

Douste-Blazy stressed on Wednesday that the resumption of the negotiations on Iran's nuclear dispute depended on Tehran's suspension of uranium enrichment.

Washington has been accusing Iran of developing nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, a charge repeatedly denied by Tehran.

Iran insists that its nuclear program is aimed at generating power to meet its surging domestic demand.