The United States and Britain said today major powers have agreed to consider more UN sanctions against Iran after Tehran failed to give a concrete reply to their demand that it freeze its nuclear activities.
The call came after Iran gave a noncommittal, one-page letter to major powers yesterday containing no firm reply to an offer by Russia, China, the United States, Germany, Britain and France to refrain from seeking more UN penalties if Iran freezes expansion of its nuclear work.
Iran promised a "clear response" at an unspecified date.
A British Foreign Office spokesman said today the six powers had agreed in a conference call that "while informal contact between (EU foreign policy chief Javier) Solana and (Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed) Jalili will continue, we have no choice but to pursue further sanctions against Iran".
US State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said after the conference call: "The P5+1 (major powers) are discussing next steps in the UN Security Council and beginning to consider possible outlines of another sanctions resolution."
While threatening more UN sanctions, the US conceded it could take months to get them through, as happened in the past three rounds of sanctions negotiations because of Chinese and Russian resistance to the move.
"I am not going to guess how long this will take and where it may ultimately lead," Mr Gallegos said when pressed whether sanctions could be agreed on before the end of the Bush administration's term in January 2009.
A European Union diplomat said there would not be immediate sanctions and dialogue should continue with the Iranians.
British Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells said his government was also disappointed by Iran's response.
"Iran has a clear choice: engagement or isolation. We regret that Iran's leaders appear to have chosen isolation. ... If Iran continues to refuse to come to the negotiating table, the international pressure on Iran will only grow," he said.
Russia's UN ambassador said Moscow had not set a deadline for Iran to respond to the "freeze for freeze" offer, and that dialogue continued.
Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the six powers would hold talks about Iran's disputed nuclear program at a ministerial level meeting in September on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. He also made clear Russia was in no hurry to raise the issue of a fourth sanctions resolution.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Iran's reply was "insufficient," and called for unity among the six powers to ensure pressure on Iran through talks and the Security Council is successful.
France warned of more punitive measures but said the option of dialogue remained. "The path of dialogue remains open, but in absence of a clear response, Iran is choosing to expose itself to new sanctions," said France's Foreign Ministry in a statement."
The major powers say they fear Tehran wants to build an atomic bomb. Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil producer, insists it is only seeking to master nuclear technology to generate electricity.
The major powers have said formal talks on the incentives could only start once Iran suspends uranium enrichment, the part of the program that most worries the West because it can have military use.
Reuters