World powers mulling fresh Iran sanctions

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 Tuesday 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 from a written statement.

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.

The United States and its partners fear that the programme may mask an effort to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran denies the charges, and Washington's push for a harder line has met with resistance from Moscow and Beijing.

At the United Nations, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said on Wednesday 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.

"We certainly do not believe that it is a foregone conclusion that it (the dialogue) is not going to be successful," Churkin told reporters. "We think there is some potential to that dialogue."

But White House spokeswoman Dana Perino, speaking before the conference call, took a far harder line, saying that the United States and its partners had "no choice" but to consider sanctions in the face of Tehran's reply.

"We think that the allies will have no choice but to take further measures that would be punitive, given that we don't have a decent and responsive statement from the Iranians," she told reporters.

The French foreign ministry also said Iran had not given the "response that was hoped for" in a letter which demanded more details on the international offer.

The UN Security Council has already ordered three rounds of sanctions against Iran. The United States says Iran is a weapons proliferation threat, while Iran insists that its nuclear research is for peaceful purposes.

However a European diplomatic source warned that it was "important not to break the chain of the negotiations, or we will face a difficult dynamic not only with Iran".

An acceptable step would be to send a double message of possible further sanctions but also of reconciliation, the source said. "We can't deny to the other party the right to pose questions if there are problems."

"The message at the end of the telephone conference will probably be an agreement for an explanatory mission and at the same time a firm message with the threat of new sanctions".

Iran's latest letter to the international powers, delivered on Tuesday, says only that "they are not prepared to move any further," said another European diplomatic source in Brussels.

Iran's latest letter said it was ready to give a "clear response" to the international offer but demanded a "'clear response' to our questions and ambiguities".

Along with the threat of further sanctions, Washington has warned that the option of military action remains open.

Amid the continued tensions, Iran said on Monday it had successfully test-fired an anti-ship missile with a range of 300 kilometres that would allow it to close the Strait of Hormuz between Iran and Oman.

And adding to signs of new diplomatic pressure, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the main UN nuclear watchdog, said its deputy director general, Olli Heinonen, would visit Tehran on Thursday for talks on the nuclear dispute.