Nations Work on Iran Nuclear Resolution

The five permanent Security Council members and Germany began work Monday on a new U.N. resolution to pressure Iran to suspend parts of its nuclear program, but said they were still committed to seeking a diplomatic solution.

The six nations, meeting in London, said they were seeking the best way to "re-engage" Tehran after it failed to respect a U.N. deadline to halt its uranium enrichment work. However, they said no decisions were made and more talks were needed.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, briefing reporters in Washington after the meeting, said the diplomats would hold a telephone conference Thursday, "at which time they hope to be able to hammer out the elements of a U.N. sanctions resolution."

However, sharp differences appear to remain between the tough U.S. position and what Russia and China, veto-holding council members with close ties to Iran, are willing to accept.

The U.N.'s nuclear watchdog confirmed last week that Iran had defied a Security Council order to freeze enrichment - a possible path to nuclear arms - expanding its program instead. Iran insists its only interest in the technology is for the production of fuel for nuclear power plants.

John Sawers, the British Foreign Office official who chaired the closed one-day meeting, issued a statement calling Monday's meeting a productive first step.

"We also considered how best to re-engage with Iran. We are all committed to seeking a negotiated solution," Sawers said.

The senior officials from Britain, the United States, France, Germany, Russia, China and the EU Secretariat discussed the possibility of imposing incremental restrictions on trade and arms for Iran, officials said.

Sanctions approved in December ban all countries from supplying Iran with materials and technology that could contribute to its nuclear and missile programs and froze the Iranian assets of 10 key companies and 12 individuals related to those programs.

Russia and China are likely to oppose strict economic sanctions or weapons bans. A travel ban was dropped from the initial resolution because of Moscow's opposition. Before the meeting Monday, a senior British diplomat said officials would examine options including whittling away at export credits made available to companies that trade with Iran.

"I expect the tortuous negotiations will continue and not result in any meaningful compromise anytime soon," said Ray Takeyh, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, a U.S. think tank. "There is a fundamental disagreement about what kind of a threat and how much of a threat Iran poses."

McCormack said U.S. officials want to engage in negotiations with Iran. "But we are equally committed to sending the message to the Iranian government: Should they chose not to proceed down that pathway, then there will be consequences," he said.

Iran's top nuclear negotiator on Monday said if the United States made a formal request for talks, Iran would respond positively but would not accept conditions placed on such discussions, the country's official news agency reported.

The Islamic Republic News Agency said Ali Larijani was responding to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's comments Sunday that the U.S. would hold direct talks with Iran if it suspended its nuclear program.

Iran has repeatedly said it would not freeze enrichment as a precondition to holding talks on its nuclear program. "Setting conditions means indicating the outcome of talks prior to holding them. Therefore, such a policy has not been answerable," IRNA quoted Larijani as saying.

In Washington, State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said the offer has been transmitted several times to Larijani by Javier Solana, foreign policy chief of the European Union.

"As the secretary reiterated on Sunday, at any time Iran suspends enrichment, she is ready to sit down" with Larijani and the others involved in the situation, he said.

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