Olmert returns to Paris and London for the second time in two years, fresh from talks in Moscow on Thursday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who visited Tehran last week.

At a meeting of his cabinet on Sunday, Olmert said he was reassured by his meeting with Putin, and was looking forward to strengthening the international campaign calling for Iran to halt its nuclear programme.

"President Putin is interested in preserving the strategic equilibrium in the Middle East," Olmert said. "Israel intends to contribute to all international efforts to deter Iran from developing nuclear arms."

The Israeli prime minister is also expected to discuss preparations for a US-sponsored conference planned for later this year aimed at reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Israel wants to shore up support on Iran and on its peace efforts with the Palestinians in the two EU countries which both have permanent seats on the UN Security Council and also have large Muslim and significant Jewish communities.

Olmert first visits Paris for talks with President Nicolas Sarkozy, Prime Minister Francois Fillon, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and leaders of France's Jewish community, Europe's largest.

On Tuesday he will head to London to meet British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who took office in June.

Before taking off, Olmert told reporters he looked forward to the talks, "especially against the recent background and the very strong position France has adopted together with Britain and the United States" on Iran.

Israel and the West fear Iran's nuclear programme is a cover for developing an atomic weapon, a charge that Tehran vehemently denies, and Olmert is expected to call on Western powers to tighten sanctions on the country.

Widely considered the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear armed nation, Israel considers Iran its chief enemy after repeated statements from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the Jewish state should be wiped off the map.

Iran's defiance of Western demands could become more pronounced with the recent resignation of Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani and his replacement by Saeed Jalili, considered much closer to Ahmedinejad.

France has considerably toughened its position on Iran since Sarkozy was elected five months ago and has called for new sanctions. The UN Security Council plans to discuss the matter before the end of the year.

Israel has also welcomed the tough lines Sarkozy has adopted against the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah militia, with which the Jewish state fought a devastating war last year.

Olmert's visit could usher in a major shift as France appears poised to replace Britain as Israel's closest European ally, given Brown's apparent attempt to distance himself from the fraught world of Middle East diplomacy.

Although Brown has offered "whatever help" he can and formulated an "economic roadmap" to boost the weak Palestinian economy, Britain has adopted a relatively low profile on US-led efforts to revive Middle East peace talks.

Nevertheless, London, like Paris, has supported calls for the European Union to consider new economic sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme.

During his last visit to the two capitals in June 2006, Olmert sought to win support for a unilateral Israeli withdrawal from most of the occupied West Bank, a concept shelved after the Lebanon war and renewed conflict in Gaza.

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.