U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns will leave for Berlin Wednesday evening for political consultations on Iran's nuclear issue, Robert Joseph, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, said on Wednesday.

While in Berlin, Burns will meet with political directors from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany on the thorny issue of imposing sanctions on Iran.

"It is now essential that we move to adopt sanctions against Iran," Joseph said.

Burns said in August that the United States has an agreement with other permanent members of the UN Security Council to impose sanctions if Iran fails to comply with the UN Resolution 1696, which demanded Iran to suspend all uranium enrichment by the end of August.

Iran has rejected the UN resolution.

The United States has been accusing Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of civilian nuclear programs. Iran has insisted that its nuclear programs are for peaceful purposes only.

Source: Xinhua