Jacques Chirac, France’s president, on Monday exposed deep ideological divisions at the top of the French government by rebuking Nicolas Sarkozy, his rebellious interior minister and likely successor, for toeing an overly pro-US line.

Mr Chirac also set up another possible clash with the US over the Middle East by urging the UN Security Council to scale down its threat of sanctions against Iran, ahead of Tuesday’s General Assembly meeting in New York.