Iran warned the UN Security Council on Tuesday against imposing more sanctions over its nuclear work, saying it was like "playing with a lion's tail" as its top negotiator met Germany's foreign minister.
The talks in Berlin between Ali Larijani and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, coming two weeks after a negative UN nuclear watchdog report on Iran that could trigger tougher sanctions soon, ended without any sign of a breakthrough.
Asked whether progress had been made in his meeting with Larijani, Steinmeier replied: "I cannot say that ... I cannot tell you whether we will come to a result."
It followed talks in Madrid last week between Larijani and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana that yielded no headway in resolving the core dispute - Iran's refusal to suspend uranium enrichment as a precondition for negotiations on trade benefits. The meeting also came on the eve of a Group of Eight (G8) summit in the German resort of Heiligendamm where industrialised nation leaders will discuss what "steps should be taken next" on Iran, among other issues, a senior German official said.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said it was too late for anyone to reverse Iran's nuclear course, which Tehran says is a peaceful quest for electricity, not for atom bombs.
"They should be aware that Iran is a big country. Some say Iran is like a lion sitting calmly in the corner. We advise them not to play with a lion's tail," he told visiting foreign journalists in Tehran. "Iran's (nuclear) move has passed the point where they (Western countries) could stop it." France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said he welcomed Solana's tough stance with Iran. Speaking through an interpreter, Kouchner said: "The situation is far from being resolved."
The Security Council has imposed two rounds of sanctions since December and Washington says Iran faces a harsher resolution after the UN watchdog reported Tehran was rapidly expanding its uranium enrichment work. Ahmadinejad said the Security Council should avoid what he termed illegal measures against Iran.