Major powers will press ahead on Wednesday with plans to impose UN sanctions on Iran over its uranium enrichment programme even as the world body grapples with the reality of a newly nuclear North Korea.
Senior diplomats from the six nations confronting Iran over its nuclear programme - Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States - will hold a videoconference on Wednesday to discuss an initial list of sanctions to use against Tehran, state department spokesperson Sean McCormack said.
The six nations' UN ambassadors in New York will then begin drafting a sanctions resolution, he said.
Foreign Ministers from the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany decided at a meeting on Friday in London to hit Iran with sanctions for ignoring UN demands that it suspend the uranium enrichment activities.
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Torrent of international condemnation But plans to draw up a sanctions resolution at the UN this week were overtaken by North Korea's announcement on Monday that it had carried out its first nuclear test explosion.
The move unleashed a torrent of international condemnation and diplomats at the world body have since been scrambling to agree on punitive measures to draw the isolationist regime in Pyongyang back from the nuclear brink.
The UN Security Council was on Wednesday to resume talks on hitting North Korea with tough punitive actions for its nuclear test, with Pyongyang's closest ally China now ready to support some sanctions.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in a series of US television interviews, said that despite the dramatic developments in northeast Asia, parallel moves to draw up a sanctions resolution against Iran were still on track.
"The United States is quite capable of taking care of several problems simultaneously," she said, voicing confidence that "we're going to have a Security Council resolution under Chapter 7, Article 41" against Iran.
Seek broader measures affecting Tehran's economy
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