French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner had said on Sunday that pressure had to be exerted on Iran and its main regional ally Syria to avoid a "war" breaking out in Lebanon.

"We hope that his comments were not correctly translated. Because otherwise doubt would be cast over his realistic understanding of Lebanese affairs," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said.

"Mr Kouchner surely is aware that it is the Americans and some of their approaches that have become an obstacle in finding a solution and not any other sides," he said, according to the Irna agency.

Kouchner met the representatives of Lebanon's feuding factions around the same table but made little apparent headway in resolving the deepening political crisis in the country. The resignation last November of six pro-Syrian ministers, five of them Shi’ite, sparked the current political standoff, the country's worst since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war. -AFP