Britain, France and Germany urged their European Union partners "to further step up the pressure" on Iran by agreeing new sanctions to undermine its nuclear drive, in a joint letter seen by AFP on Monday.

Foreign ministers of the three nations called on their EU counterparts to quickly agree to punitive action in the areas of energy, finance, trade and transportation, with sanctions set to be formally adopted October 15.

The ministers said they believed previous EU sanctions had "had an enormous effect" - notably a damaging oil embargo that came into force on July 1 - particularly in helping bring Iran back to the negotiating table.

"But further encouragement to Iran to engage substantively with the E3+3 is needed urgently," they wrote, referring to talks between Tehran and six world powers - the EU three, plus the US, Russia and China.

"We must let Iran know that we have not exhausted our options," the letter said.

Saying they had together identified energy, finance, trade and transport as areas "of special importance to the Iranian nuclear program and to its financing by the Iranian regime," they called on EU states to immediately submit proposals with a view to adopting sanctions at ministerial talks on October 15.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is seeking to counter the pressure on his country at this week's UN General Assembly in New York.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned Ahmadinejad of the dangers of incendiary rhetoric, when two men met in New York on Sunday.

"The secretary-general drew attention to the potentially harmful consequences of inflammatory rhetoric, counter-rhetoric and threats from various countries in the Middle East," Ban's press office said in a statement.

Despite the warning, Ahmadinejad on Monday launched his attack at a UN debate on the rule of law, at which he said the US, Britain and France "violate the basic rights and freedoms of other nations."

"The nuclear issue is not a problem. But the approach of the US on Iran is important," Ahmadinejad said on Monday separately. "We are ready for dialogue, for a fundamental resolution of the problems" but under conditions that are based on "fairness and mutual respect."

In an interview with the Washington Post newspaper, Ahmadinejad also said he did not see any progress on his country's nuclear standoff with the West before the US presidential election in November.

"Experience has shown that important and key decisions are not made in the US leading up to national elections," Ahmadinejad said.