US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday called foreign ministers of
Britain, China, France and Russia in a bid to speed up sanctions against Iran,
Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said.
Rice urged the foreign ministers of the four countries to overcome the
differences that have prevented agreement on the sanctions package, Burns said.
"She put forward the proposal that we should try to work extremely hard to
get that resolution passed as quickly as possible," Burns said.
"We are working very hard at the UN Security Council to push for a
resolution," he said.
The UN Security Council adopted a resolution in late July, urging Tehran to
suspend all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities by Aug. 31, including
research and development, or face international sanctions.
However, Iran insisted that it would not step back on its legal nuclear
rights, warning the West not to imagine that the country would suspend uranium
enrichment for even one day.