PARIS — French President Nicolas Sarkozy is urging stronger, more decisive sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.

France wants the entire European Union to impose an embargo on Iranian oil and freeze the international assets of Iran's central bank to force it to halt the suspected development of nuclear arms.

Iran insists its nuclear activities are aimed at producing energy, not arms. An EU decision may be reached at a meeting in Brussels next week.

In an annual speech on French diplomacy Friday, Sarkozy accused Iran of lying and denounced what he called its "senseless race for a nuclear bomb."

He called for "much stronger, much more decisive" sanctions -- "time is running out" and "everything must be done to avoid" international military intervention, he added.