The US may act on its own, possibly by tightening economic sanctions, if the UN Security Council fails to move forcefully to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons, the US ambassador to the UN said on Thursday.
The US could strengthen its own sanctions, which were loosened during 1990s, and expand international efforts to halt the transport of nuclear materials and other technologies that could lead to the production of atomic weapons, US ambassador John Bolton said.
"It would be simply prudent planning to be looking at other options," Bolton told a group of reporters in Washington.
Other countries could also move to financially isolate Iran, he said.
Bolton cited resistance from Russia and China on the Security Council as a reason to consider other possibilities for resolving the dispute over Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program, but reaffirmed the US desire to continue working at the Security Council for now.
The Security Council last month issued an appeal to Iran to comply with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) resolutions that require Iran to come clean on its nuclear activities, but only after three weeks of difficult negotiations.
The UK, France and Germany, the most influential countries in the EU, have generally supported the US effort to halt Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
Bolton said if Iran did not comply with the statement by the end of this month -- the deadline set by the Security Council -- the US will seek a legally binding resolution requiring Iran to comply.
If Iran does not meet that demand, then the US will pursue a second resolution imposing international sanctions "of some kind" against the Islamic republic, Bolton said.
Bolton, in his previous position in the US State Department, negotiated the Proliferation Security Initiative, which consists of dozens of countries coordinating the effort to stop shipments of nuclear materials or other technologies that can lead to the development of weapons of mass destruction.
The US could work within the initiative to keep Iran from pursuing weapons, Bolton said.
Iran says its nuclear activities are purely for producing energy, but the US insists the program is also being used to build a bomb.
US President George W. Bush has not ruled out the use of military force to keep Iran from acquiring nuclear arms, but has pledged to resolve the dispute diplomatically.
The UK, France and Germany, known collectively as the EU-3, have led negotiations with Iran aimed at resolving the crisis, but negotiations ended without a solution last year and Iran in January announced that it would resume uranium enrichment, a step the could lead to building weapons.
The March 29 Security Council statement gave Iran 30 days to stop enriching uranium, but did not outline the next steps if Iran fails to comply.
The statement came after contentious negotiations between the US and Russia, which has been reluctant to come down too hard on Iran.
"The obvious difficulty that we had in taking three weeks ... to get a presidential statement that simply says to Iran, `Obey the IAEA resolutions,' tells us something about the difficulty on the road ahead that we will face at the end of this month," Bolton said, referring to the deadline.
The Clinton administration lifted restrictions on US imports of Iranian pistachios, caviar and rugs in the 1990s in an effort to support democratic reform in Iran.
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