The United States will move quickly for UN Security Council action on sanctions against Iran if Tehran refuses to halt uranium enrichment by the end of the month, a senior State Department official said Thursday.
Under-secretary of State Nicholas Burns said Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's rejection this week of a UN resolution demanding that Iran suspend all uranium enrichment activity by August 31 was "not surprising." He said the UN Security Council will take up sanctions under resolution 1696 if the deadline is not met.
"We would want to move very quickly," he told reporters.
"In the event Iran does not give an answer to the Security Council and does not comply with the conditions clearly enunciated by the Security Council, I think we'll want to move very quickly in the first part of September towards a debate in Security Council about sanctions, and they will be well deserved, because this has gone on a long time," he said.
Under the resolution, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohammed al-Baradei would first report on the status of the Iranian uranium enrichment program.
The United States and other western countries believe Iran is enriching uranium to use as fuel for nuclear weapons. But Iran insists the program is to make fuel for civilian reactors.
Iran has said it will reply by August 22 to a package of incentives offered by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany to halt its uranium enrichment program.
Burns said the United States has an agreement with other permanent members of the Security Council to seek sanctions if Iran fails to comply and "we're heading for that kind of a decision," he said.