WASHINGTON (Agencies) -- U.S. President George W. Bush and Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi agreed Thursday on the need to end the Iranian nuclear crisis through diplomacy, the White House said, AFP reported.

Predominantly Muslim Malaysia is the current chair of the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference, the world's biggest Muslim grouping.

Bush spoke on the Iranian issue and other global problems by telephone with Abdullah, who is attending the World Congress on Information Technology in Texas.

"The two leaders discussed Iran and agreed on the importance of finding a diplomatic solution to the nuclear issue," Bush's spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters.

The two leaders spoke as the UN Security Council on Thursday mulled a binding Franco-British draft resolution demanding a halt to Iran's nuclear program.

France says military action won't solve Iran

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

"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."

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 ready to back draft resolution if amended

Russia's new UN ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, on Wednesday said Moscow would be prepared to back a Franco-British draft resolution on the Iranian nuclear crisis if its concerns were addressed, AFP reported.

But he made clear that his government remained opposed to the use of force or sanctions to resolve the nuclear standoff with Tehran.

Churkin spoke to reporters after attending Security Council consultations at which France and Britain circulated a draft resolution that would legally oblige Iran to comply with UN demands that it freeze uranium enrichment but does not call for sanctions.

The text, worked out in close consultations with Germany and the United States, invokes Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which can authorize economic sanctions or even as a last resort the use of force in cases of threats to international peace and security.

It says "Iran shall suspend all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including research and development, to be verified by the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), and suspend the construction of a reactor moderated by heavy water".

"In our view the resolution would be a means to advance the diplomatic and political resolution of the issue," Churkin said.

"The goal of the Russian federation is to make sure that the regime of non-proliferation is strengthened.

"We do not believe that the matter can be resolved by the use of force," he added.

Asked if Moscow would be ready to accept the draft if it was amended to address its concerns, Churkin replied: "Of course, we participated in taking the decision that we should go ahead with the resolution."

"We have some things we feel very strongly about," he said.

"If people agree with those things, then as far as we are concerned it could be a very quick process. If not then it will probably take some time."

Churkin expressed hope that the council could reach agreement on the draft before the foreign ministers of Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States meet in New York on Monday.

"Political and diplomatic solutions are still possible, the IAEA still has a lot of work ahead of it," he said, adding that Moscow was "skeptical" about sanctions.