US pressures Russia on Iran sanctions

The United States urged a reluctant Russia and China today to agree quickly on a sanctions plan against Tehran and its nuclear program as officials from six world powers met to seek a breakthrough at talks in Paris.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his country would consider it an act of "enmity" if France, Britain and Germany tried to block Tehran's nuclear development and would reconsider ties with them.

Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said he did not expect a deal from the meeting of senior diplomats but called on Moscow and Beijing to move faster to agree on measures to be taken against Iran over its refusal to stop enriching uranium.

"We've waited long enough. We've had hours and hours of discussions and we really do need the Russian and Chinese governments to shift into third or fourth gear ... and to work more quickly to agree with us on the basis of a resolution," Burns told reporters in Brussels.

In Washington, Robert Gates, who has been nominated to replace Donald Rumsfeld as US defense secretary, said he thought that Iran was trying to acquire nuclear weapons.

But he said that US military action against Iran would be "an absolute last resort" and that diplomacy should be used first to try to resolve the issues with Iran.

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, told Iran's official IRNA news agency today: "All parts of our research and development program will be achieved by the end of this Iranian year (March 2007)," without elaborating.