"The award of this prestigious prize is a just reward for the action carried out by yourself and the IAEA," Chirac said in a letter to ElBaradei, released by his office.

He said the agency played an "indispensable role, within the multilateral system, as a pillar of nuclear non-proliferation, for the promotion of nuclear safety and security, and the development of nuclear energy for peaceful ends."

Chirac had earlier congratulated the IAEA and its director, at a joint press conference following talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

France and Britain, with Germany, have led EU negotiations with Iran to try to curtail the latter's nuclear development programme, which Europe and the United States fear could be used to build a nuclear arsenal.

Those talks broke down in August when Iran decided to go ahead with uranium enrichment in violation of a deal with the European Union.

Chirac said the peace prize was "an encouragement to actively pursue, with the IAEA, efforts towards a lasting political settlement of the crisis of confidence created by this country's (Iran's) clandestine activities."

ElBaradei -- who was deeply involved in the discussions -- has said he hopes the talks will resume in the near future.

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.