(Reuters) - France refused to confirm on Monday scathing criticism of Iran and Venezuela by a senior French diplomat contained in U.S. State Department documents leaked by the whistle-blowing WikiLeaks web site.

The Guardian, one of a handful of newspapers allowed access to the documents, reported that the top diplomatic adviser to President Nicolas Sarkozy had told a senior U.S. diplomat in September 2009 that Iran was a "fascist" state and the time had come to decide on further steps.

The newspaper printed the text of a diplomatic telegram which said that Jean-Davide Levitte had described Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez as "crazy" and said: "Unfortunately, Chavez is taking one of Latin America's richest countries and turning it into another Zimbabwe."