World powers mull moves towards Iranian sanctions

Foreign ministers from six world powers were set to convene in London on Friday to discuss Iran's nuclear programme, with the United States with British support suggesting it is time to consider a sanctions resolution.

Resistance may come from Russia and China, which oppose the sanctions route. Some European countries also say diplomacy must be given more time.

Apart from Germany, the countries meeting in London are veto-wielding United Nations Security Council members.

Four months of talks between European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and top Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani have failed to yield a promise from Iran to halt uranium enrichment.

A Bush administration official said on Friday that ministers would probably agree on the principle of imposing sanctions on Iran but not approve specific language.

"What we would expect to come from this meeting is the political decision to move to the next step of diplomacy, which is a sanctions resolution," said the official, travelling in Iraq with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Rice, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett and representatives from France, Germany, Russia and China were scheduled to gather for ministerial-level talks starting at 5 pm (1600 GMT).

A spokesman for the British foreign office, which said earlier this week that work was under way to start drafting a United Nations resolution on sanctions, said the main aim of the meeting was to reach agreement on where to go next.

"This is an opportunity for all parties to meet face to face to assess where we've got to in discussions with Iran and see where we next have to go," the spokesman said.

Iran again urged the West on Thursday to resolve the dispute through talks but repeated it would not stop uranium enrichment. Teheran says the programme is only for power generation, but the West suspects Iran wants to make a nuclear bomb.

The talks were expected to break around 7 pm (1800 GMT) to make a statement on how they are progressing. Some ministers would then convene again over dinner, depending on their schedules, the foreign office spokesman said.

The meeting followed discussions earlier in the day between senior officials from their respective countries.

The US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the foreign ministers would probably ask their political directors to spend the next several days hammering out specific language on sanctions.

Solana said on Thursday that the door to dialogue with Teheran should stay open for now.

In New York, British UN Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said he expected the Security Council to discuss Iran next week, including non-military sanctions under Article 41 of the UN Charter.

Source: China Daily