IRAN: Six world powers yesterday agreed to discuss possible sanctions to punish Iran for failing to halt its nuclear programme but said they were still open to negotiations with Tehran.
Iran says its atomic programme is only for power generation. The West suspects Iran wants to make a nuclear bomb, and the UN Security Council had set an August 31st deadline for Tehran to stop uranium enrichment.
"Further pressure is needed," British foreign secretary Margaret Beckett told reporters after talks with ministers from the United States, France, Germany, Russia and China.
"We are proposing to consult on measures under Article 41. That means not military measures but it does mean other measures which can put pressure on Iran in order to bring them to the negotiating table," she said.
In July, a UN resolution authorised the Security Council to "adopt appropriate measures" - under article 41, Chapter 7 - which referred to commercial or diplomatic sanctions but excluded military force.
The US, backed by Britain, has suggested it is time to consider a Security Council resolution to impose sanctions after four months of talks between the EU and Tehran failed to yield an Iranian promise to halt atomic work.
But Russia and China, underlining divisions among the six world powers, agreed it was "absolutely unacceptable" to threaten force and talk of ultimatums was counter-productive, Russian deputy foreign minister Alexander Alexeyev said yesterday.
After four months of talks between European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and top Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, Tehran says it will not stop its atomic work and has a right to nuclear technology.
The six powers said in a statement after the meeting in London they were "deeply disappointed" Iran was not prepared to suspend its enrichment-related and reprocessing activities.
A European diplomat said the meeting had essentially shifted future talks on whether to start drafting sanctions back to New York, under the auspices of the United Nations.
"The real discussion on sanctions is going to be in New York," the diplomat added. Iran again repeated it would not stop uranium enrichment.
A US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said before the meeting that the foreign ministers would probably ask their political directors to spend the next few days hammering out specific language on sanctions. - (Reuters)