Speaking at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, he meanwhile dismissed a report that the United States might take military action in the standoff with Tehran over its nuclear plans.

"We have to be prepared just in case they fail," he said, referring to diplomatic efforts to persuade the Islamic republic to renounce sensitive atomic activities, currently centred on the UN Security Council.

"We have to begin thinking about that possibility," he said, referring to the possibility of eventual sanctions. Asked specifically about a visa ban, he said that such a move "is a classical type of measure that is taken."

The EU official dismissed a report that US President George W. Bush is mulling military options to knock out Iran's nuclear program.

The New Yorker magazine has reported that the administration is planning a massive bombing campaign against Iran, including use of bunker-buster nuclear bombs to destroy a key suspected Iranian nuclear weapons facility.

"I have read the article ... I think it has nothing to do with reality," he said, although admitting: "I don't know what is going on in the Pentagon and the different levels of the Pentagon."

However, Solana said: "Any military action is absolutely out of the table for us."

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.