Six powers failed yesterday to agree a draft UN resolution to punish Iran for defying demands to halt its nuclear program, according to the French Foreign Ministry.

"We made substantive progress on the scope of the sanctions targeting proliferation-sensitive activities. There remain several outstanding issues, upon which we will reflect over the coming days," the French ministry said in a statement. "We are now close to a conclusion of this process."

Delegates from the five permanent members of the Security Council, the U.S., U.K., Russia, China and France, plus Germany and the European Union, met in Paris to try to agree on sanctions aimed at convincing Iran to stop enriching uranium.

After months of diplomatic wrangling, the United States and France had hoped Tuesday's talks would produce a resolution imposing sanctions on Iran for defying an Aug. 31 U.N. deadline to halt uranium enrichment. Western powers accuse Iran of seeking nuclear bombs, while Tehran insists it only wants nuclear energy.

The discussions now move to the United Nations in New York. The Americans and Europeans are pushing for a resolution by the end of the year.

"We are coming up to the time (when) the credibility of the U.N. is at stake," U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in Washington before the Paris talks.