"Sanctions are not the end but a means to urge Iran to return to negotiations," said China's ambassador Wang Guangya after the UN Security Council vote on Saturday.

"There are also explicit provisions indicating that if Iran suspends its enrichment related and reprocessing activities, and complies with the relevant resolutions of the Security Council and meets the requirement of the IAEA, the Security Council shall suspend and even terminate the sanction measures," he said.

China has all along supported the international non-proliferation mechanism and does not want to see new turbulence in the Middle East, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said, stressing that China favors a peaceful solution to Iran's nuclear issue.

Sanctions will not solve the Iranian nuclear issue fundamentally, he said. China urges all relevant parties to continue the diplomatic efforts to push for the resumption of negotiations at an early date in efforts to find a long-term, comprehensive settlement, he said.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice welcomed the UN resolution. "We call on all countries to take immediate action to implement their obligations under this resolution," Rice said in a statement.

U.S. Acting Ambassador to the UN Alejandro Wolff urged Iran's unconditional and immediate compliance with the resolution, warning that Washington would not hesitate to return to that body for further action if Iran failed to take the necessary steps to comply.

Russia was "satisfied" with the final text of the UN resolution, said Russian ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin. However, he said, Moscow still considered sanctions to be "the most extreme instrument in the international diplomacy's arsenal."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the unanimous nature of the UN resolution reinforced the importance of the move and demonstrated that the international community was prepared to come together to find a solution to the Iranian nuclear standoff.

IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei on Saturday called on the international community to solve the Iranian nuclear issue through negotiations.

Meanwhile, the IAEA "will implement the relevant parts of the UNSC resolution that relates to its work," he said.

The resolution, adopted unanimously by the UN Security Council on Saturday, demanded that Iran "suspend all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including research and development," and "work on all heavy water-related projects."

The resolution called on all states to impose a ban on trade with Iran in goods related to its nuclear programs and ballistic missile delivery systems.

It also demanded that "all states shall freeze the funds, other financial assets and economic resources" owned or controlled by officials and companies in the country's nuclear and missile programs.

Iran's UN Ambassador Javad Zarif rejected the resolution, accusing some governments of pushing the council to take "groundless punitive measures against Iran's peaceful nuclear program" while turning a deaf ear to Israel's nuclear program.