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Six major powers agree on new Iran nuclear sanctions

The five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany have agreed to impose new sanctions on Iran over its suspect nuclear program.

After months of diplomatic bickering and US pressure, Washington and its European allies overcame strong Chinese and Russian resistance to a third UN sanctions resolution, and on Tuesday they all approved a draft that expands and strengthens the penalties that were in the two earlier ones.

The draft was presented as a sign of international resolve that Iran should not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons and unity on the need to press the country into suspending its uranium enrichment that can produce material needed to make the bomb. But the text was not released, and participants in the two-hour negotiating session that produced it refused to discuss details.

The foreign ministers of the six nations represented -- Britain, China, France, Russia, the US and Germany -- canceled a planned news conference and left it to the host of the meeting, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, to announce the result.

US and European diplomats said the draft, to be presented to the other members of the Security Council in the coming days, bolsters existing sanctions, notably asset freezes and travel bans, but they disagreed on whether it contains new measures.
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