NEW YORK -- The six powers trying to scale back Iran's nuclear ambitions will "move forward" with further measures against Iran over its nuclear defiance, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said here Monday.
She described as "a very positive step" the resolution adopted by the Security Council Saturday renewing demands that Iran suspend its uranium enrichment program.
"We had only sought a resolution that would affirm the unity of the six, and to let the Iranians know that that unity is very strong and that we'll be moving forward," Rice said at the start of a meeting with her Kazakh counterpart Marat Tazhin.
"And now, the political directors [top foreign ministry officials from Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States] will take up the issue moving forward," she added.
Saturday, the 15-member Security Council unanimously adopted the resolution urging Iran to suspend its sensitive nuclear fuel work but offering no new sanctions and merely reaffirming existing ones.
The United States and its European allies had pushed for new, tougher sanctions against Tehran but ran into resistance from Russia and China.
The West and Israel have accused Iran of using its nuclear program as a cover to build nuclear arms. But Tehran insists its program is strictly peaceful and solely aimed at generating electricity.
Copyright 2008 AFP
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