The French foreign minister says the new US president needs to consult with Europe regarding any talks with Iran over its nuclear work.

Barack Obama must consult closely with European allies on any potential US-Iran talks, Bloomberg quoted Bernard Kouchner as saying on Wednesday.

Kouchner showed an upbeat opinion of Obama’s earlier vow to engage Tehran in direct diplomacy in order to resolve the nuclear dispute.

“If we want to ensure that the possible US-Iran dialogue moves us closer to our shared goal, not further away from it, we must continue to work together,” Kouchner said at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

Obama had earlier said that he would engage in direct talks with Iran, a promise made in line with his slogan to bring change to the US foreign policy.

This is while Israel, the US staunch ally, says that any Washington’s talks with Iran is a sign of ‘weakness’ in efforts to end Tehran’s nuclear activities.

The US and Israel, the Middle East’s sole possessor of nuclear warheads, accuse Iran of making efforts to obtain nuclear weapons. Tehran categorically rejects such claims.

So far, the UN Security Council has imposed three rounds of sanctions against Iran over its nuclear work. Diplomats from the six major powers will also meet in Paris on Thursday to discuss latest developments of Iran’s nuclear program.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has extensively monitored Iran’s nuclear activities since 2003, concedes that it is not in a position to fully clarify the nature of the Iranian nuclear program.

The agency, however, announced in its latest Iran report that its inspectors have not found any ‘components of a nuclear weapon’ or ‘related nuclear physics studies’ in the country.