The six major powers are in a position to agree on the text of a UN resolution to impose sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme, France's foreign minister said a day before they meet to discuss it in Paris.

"I think that we can now reach an agreement on the text," Philippe Douste-Blazy told reporters yesterday.

"We are in agreement with Russia to adopt sanctions against the Iranian programme of proliferation," he said after meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of a meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in Brussels.

French Foreign Ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei told an online news briefing that political directors from foreign ministries of the six would "discuss the Iranian nuclear issue" in Paris on today.

He said the EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, would also take part.

The six parties involved are UN Security Council permanent members Russia, China, France, Britain and the United States, plus Germany.

They are trying to agree how to deal with Iran's failure to heed UN demands that it should stop uranium enrichment. The West suspects Iran is building a bomb but Teheran says its nuclear programme is peaceful.

But negotiations over a Security Council resolution have been deadlocked for months, with most opposition coming from Moscow which balked at imposing rigid sanctions over Teheran's refusal to meet the August 31 UN deadline to abandon the enrichment or face tough UN measures.

China has also opposed punishing Iran with sanctions.

Source: China Daily