Officials close to hard-liners within Iran's ruling Islamic establishm= ent said they believed the proposal by Putin was a type of "time out" on = U.N. sanctions against Iran, if Tehran suspends uranium enrichment. The t= wo officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nat= ure of the issue.

Railway workers will join bus, power, gas and some state employees for= the action called after President Nicolas Sarkozy refused to back down o= ver planned pension reforms, according to Monique Ricard, spokeswoman for= the French railway SNCF.

The Security Council imposed sanctions on Iran in December for refusin= g to suspend enrichment, and modestly increased them in March after Tehra= n stepped up the program. Iran responded by giving the U.N. nuclear watch= dog less access to its nuclear facilities.

In June 2006 the Security Council permanent members group, offered a p= ackage of economic and political rewards to Iran and a suspension of the = implementation of sanctions, but only if Tehran agreed to suspend enrichm= ent before the start of negotiations. Iran rejected that proposal.

At talks Friday with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and U.S.= Defense Secretary Robert Gates, he ridiculed U.S. plans for a missile de= fense system in eastern Europe, supposedly to stop an Iranian attack.

About 80,000 rugby fans are expected to attend Saturday's World Cup fi= nal between England and South Africa.

Russian officials could not immediately be reached to verify the repor= t and the Iranian news agency provided no details on what Putin had propo= sed.

Trains across France and the Metro -- Paris's subway system -- are exp= ected to come to a halt starting Wednesday night, Ricard said.

Commercial flights to the French capital were sold out, while thousand= s of England supporters have booked to travel on the Eurostar rail servic= e from London to Paris.

With Paris hotels booked full many fans are staying 30 kilometers (20 = miles) outside the city in hotels around Disneyland's Paris resort.