World powers mulling fresh Iran sanctions: US

WASHINGTON: Six world powers grappling with Iran over its suspect nuclear drive are weighing new UN sanctions after Tehran's unclear response to their offer to end the dispute, the United States said on Wednesday.

Senior diplomats from the Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, and the United States agreed in a telephone conference call to look at the "outlines" of a possible fresh sanctions resolution, the US State Department said.

Spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said the Islamic Republic's written response yesterday to the powers' offer of diplomatic and economic incentives for halting uranium enrichment "appears to be a stalling tactic."

"We, the P5+1, are very disappointed that Iran has failed yet again to give us a clear answer to the P5+1 generous package," he said, using diplomatic shorthand for the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany.

"Given the absence of a clear positive response from Iran and its failure to meet the deadline set by the UNSCR 1803, the P5+1 are discussing the next steps in the UNSC and beginning to consider the possible outlines of another sanction resolution," Gallegos read to reporters.

Still, "the door for acceptance remains open," he said shortly after the call, which also included EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, the point man in diplomatic efforts to convince Iran to curb sensitive nuclear work.

At the UN, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said today that he saw "potential" in the thus-far inconclusive talks with Iran over enrichment, which can be a key step to getting a nuclear weapon.