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Six major countries to seek new sanctions against Iran - US

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-09-19 09:55

WASHINGTON -- Representatives from the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany will seek to move forward with new sanctions against Iran as Tehran refuses to comply with United Nations resolutions, the State Department said Thursday.

Iran has failed to comply with the demands of the UN Security Council and to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

"So the agreement is to move forward with a new sanctions resolution, and we'll discuss that," he said.

Despite current sour relations between the United States and Russia over Georgia, McCormack said that Washington will seek Russian cooperation on the settlement of nuclear issues in Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"We will continue to engage Russia on those kind of issues," the spokesman noted.

According to an IAEA report released on Monday, due to Tehran's block, the UN nuclear watchdog had been unable to make much progress in investigating Iran's suspect nuclear program.

The United States and its allies have accused Iran of developing nuclear weapons, but Iran insists that its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes.

Iran till now has been under three UN sanctions over its disputed nuclear program.