The five permanent members of the UN Security Council met early yesterday but failed to bridge their differences over how to respond to Iran's nuclear crisis.

The informal consultations, the third of its kind in a week, took place at the U.S. mission to the United Nations in New York and brought together ambassadors of China, France, Russia, the United States and Britain to the world body.

The five countries are permanent members of the 15-nation Security Council, which hold the veto power.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton declined to elaborate on the status of the talks but revealed that the five nations would hold further consultations Tuesday.

During their previous round of discussions Friday afternoon, the five powers discussed proposals put forward by Britain and France for a presidential statement the Security Council is expected to adopt on the Iranian nuclear issue.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last week sent its assessment report on Iran's disputed nuclear program to the council which has not yet set a date to hear a briefing by IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei.

Among the British-French proposals is a 14-day deadline for Iran to comply with IAEA's demands to resume suspension of its uranium enrichment activities. But the idea of setting a deadline has been strongly opposed by Russia.