The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Washington

World powers failed to agree on Tuesday on final elements of a new U.N. sanctions resolution against Iran over its nuclear program, but the United States hopes to get a deal within weeks, the State Department said.

Senior officials from the United States, China, Russia, Germany, France and Britain spoke via conference call for about 1-1/2 hours and were still working on finalizing the sanctions resolution, said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

"It was a good, constructive phone call. We're not there yet. But our hope t is that in the coming weeks that we could have a resolution that is voted on in the Security Council," McCormack told reporters.

Last week, a U.S. national intelligence estimate said Iran had stopped its nuclear weapons program in 2003, a surprise announcement that increased reluctance among already skeptical Russia and China for a third round of U.N. Security Council sanctions against Iran.

McCormack, who declined to provide details about the new resolution or say whether Russia or China supported it during the conference call, said the intelligence estimate did not mean a change in strategy or tactics over Iran.

"What is very interesting about this is that we're not talking about whether or not there's going to be a resolution, but we're talking about what are the elements to a new Security Council resolution," he said, adding that the senior officials planned another conference call very soon.

There had been a possibility that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would meet ministers from the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany in Paris this weekend, but U.S. officials said this was unlikely.

AP, report adds: Iran's president took an unusually soft tone toward the United States on Tuesday, saying a new U.S. intelligence report marks an opportunity to resolve U.S.-Iranian differences. But he said Washington must take further steps, including dropping nuclear sanctions.

The conciliatory line appeared aimed at deflecting Washington's attempts to win further sanctions against Iran and bringing the U.S. into negotiations after the intelligence report found that Tehran ended a nuclear weapons program four years ago. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may also be trying to fend off critics at home who have accused him of provoking Iran's enemies with his fiery rhetoric. Ahead of Ahmadinejad's news conference, one of his top critics - Hasan Rowhani, a former nuclear negotiator and a powerful figure in Iran's leadership - made his harshest criticism yet of the president, saying his government had failed on foreign policy. The United States brushed off Ahmadinejad's comments, saying Iran must abide by U.N. demands that it suspend uranium enrichment.

"We totally agree with the Iranian president. One or two more steps are needed. Let's start with Iran suspending its uranium enrichment process," said Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council.

He also said Iran should halt its support for militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, "and then we can go from there."

On Tuesday, diplomats from the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany held a 90-minute conference call to discuss a draft plan for new sanctions, but State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said it was still too early to talk about an agreement. Russia and China were questioning the need for sanctions even before the U.S. intelligence report.

President Bush insisted that "Iran is dangerous," pointing to the report's conclusion that Tehran once was seeking a nuclear weapon. "Iran must explain to the world why they had such a program," he said.