PARIS (AFP) -- Two days before a UN deadline for Iran to halt uranium enrichment, France offered on Tuesday to renew talks with Tehran to end the stand-off while still insisting it freeze sensitive nuclear work.

"The Iranian authorities say they are open to dialogue and ready to resume discussions," Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told a meeting of French ambassadors in Paris.

"Without abandoning the demand to suspend sensitive activities, France is also ready to renew dialogue. But it must be a clear, concrete and responsible dialogue," he said.

Douste-Blazy said he wanted the talks to take place "quickly" but would not be pinned down on a timeframe, while a French diplomat said the offer was for dialogue, not the resumption of full-blown negotiations Tehran is seeking.

In Brussels, a diplomat said that EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana was trying to set up a meeting with Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, somewhere in Europe and hopefully "before the end of the month".

He said the meeting would also involve "diplomats" from the so-called EU-3 powers of Britain, France and Germany, which have been leading negotiations with Tehran also involving the United States, Russia and China.

The UN Security Council has given Iran until Thursday to suspend uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities -- which Tehran says is part of a civilian nuclear program -- or face the threat of sanctions.

China and Russia, which have major economic interests in Iran, are hostile to the idea of sanctions and want a return to full negotiations. Douste-Blazy said the Iranian response so far was "not satisfactory". "It remains ambiguous and seems to continue to ignore the essential question of sensitive nuclear activities, that is to say enrichment and reprocessing."

"This move is essential to re-establish confidence between all the parties to the negotiations," he told the ambassadors at their annual meeting in Paris.