In an interview with The New York Times, published on the newspaper’s Web site late on Sunday, Sarkozy pointedly eschewed his foreign minister’s talk of preparing for war with Iran but said more pressure must be applied to make Tehran renounce its nuclear ambitions.
"It’s not true that there is no solution between surrender and war," Sarkozy said, according to a text released by his office.
"Between surrender and war, there is a range of solutions that exist like the reinforcement of sanctions which will eventually have an effect," he said, calling for a third U.N. resolution tightening economic restrictions on Tehran.
If the U.N. Security Council was unable to agree on another resolution, Sarkozy said he would support the European Union adopting additional sanctions.
The French leader, in New York to attend his first United Nations General Assembly session since his election in May, said he had urged Total and Gaz de France to refrain from bidding for new projects in Iran and told French banks to stop doing business there.