UNITED NATIONS — Ahead of what is now certain to be a contentious meeting with President Bush today, President Chirac of France reneged on his previous support for a united international approach to halting Iran’s nuclear program.

In two interviews on the eve of his trip to Turtle Bay to attend the U.N. General Assembly, Mr. Chirac threatened to restart negotiations with Iran. His comments called into question the united position of the five permanent members of the Security Council and Germany, whose foreign ministers had said that unless Iran suspended enrichment by the end of August, the council would consider punitive measures.

“I don’t believe in a solution without dialogue,” Mr. Chirac told Europe 1 radio. “We must, on the one hand, together, Iran and the six countries, meet and set an agenda, then start negotiations.”

The French president added, “I suggest that the six renounce referring” Iran to “the U.N. Security Council and that Iran renounce uranium enrichment during negotiations,” according to an Associated Press translation.

However, Iran is already on the Security Council’s agenda. The 15-member body earlier adopted a declaration by the foreign ministers of Russia, China, America, France, Britain, and Germany to consider sanctions unless Tehran suspends enrichment. And the International Atomic Energy Agency has said since then that it has been unable to verify that Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful.

But though the steering group appeared to be diverging yesterday, with some nations calling for more dialogue and others urging a more muscular stance, there were also indications it could expand.

The new Italian government, on a swing to assert itself on the world stage, is angling for a spot in the group. Mr. Chirac said yesterday, like Mr. Bush before him, that he would not personally meet with President Ahmadinejad. But Prime Minister Prodi of Italy said he probably would meet the Iranian leader.

As officials in Tehran yesterday denied previous reports that they are considering even a short-term suspension of their enrichment program, Mr. Chirac said he favored more talks. “I am never in favor of sanctions,” he told CNN. “I have never observed that sanctions were very effective.”

With Mr. Chirac’s remarks, France joins China and Russia, whose officials have expressed strong reservations about imposing sanctions, making a Security Council decision on punishing Iran unlikely. “We, too, don’t like sanctions,” Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters at Turtle Bay yesterday.

Bush administration officials, as well as British diplomats, indicated Mr. Chirac’s change of tack was not part of a coordinated new strategy for the international group. The American ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, told reporters that the Iranian nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, did not even bother to explain his country’s decisions to council members.

“The discussions with Iran appear to have come to a stop, in the sense that Mr. Larijani, whom we expected in New York, is not here,” Mr. Bolton said. “We are now 18 days, by my calculation, after the August 31 deadline. Our position remains unchanged: Unless there is a full and verifiable suspension of uranium enrichment activities, we will seek sanctions in the Security Council.”

Though Mr. Larijani is absent, Mr. Ahmadinejad expects a warm reception at Turtle Bay. He will arrive fresh from a victory in Havana, where members of the Non-Aligned Movement supported his country’s nuclear quest in a resolution last week, and from strong statements of solidarity in Caracas, Venezuela, yesterday.

Mr. Ahmadinejad is scheduled to attend a Turtle Bay press conference today and also will meet members of the Council on Foreign Relations.

The Holocaust survivor Elie Weisel said last week that he will start a drive to suspend Iran’s U.N.membership because Mr. Ahmadinejad has advocated the annihilation of a member state, Israel.

Mr. Chirac “deplores” Mr. Ahmadinejad’s statements casting doubt on the Holocaust and calling for Israel to be wiped off the map, he said. “The conditions for a personal dialogue have not been fulfilled,” he said of the Iranian president.

Not so Mr. Prodi. “I confirm that very probably I will have a discussion with Ahmadinejad in New York, just as we have had repeated meetings in Rome with Larijani,” the Italian premier told Italian reporters yesterday, according to the AP.

“We had a lot of dialogue, too much dialogue,” Senator Coleman, a Republican of Minnesota, told The New York Sun. “The time for action is now.”

Mr. Coleman, who along with Senator Boxer, a Democrat of California, represents Congress at the annual U.N. General Assembly added, “I’m sure the Iranians would love to have dialogue until the day they activate a nuclear weapon.”

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni of Israel conveyed a similar message on her first day of Turtle Bay meetings yesterday. The six foreign ministers’ insistence on Iran suspending uranium enrichment must be maintained, Ms. Livni told diplomats including President Halonen of Finland, which currently holds the European Union presidency.

“There must be no compromise on that, because the Iranians are merely trying to buy time,” Ms. Livni said, according to a spokesman who requested anonymity.