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Iran boosts enrichment program, report says Iran willing to talk nukes; threat of sanctions dims Iran testing new enrichment devices

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The European Union said its diplomacy is failing to curb Iran's nuclear program and the United Nations should act on U.S.-led demands for sanctions against the Islamic nation.

EU foreign ministers said the door is open for the U.N. Security Council to discuss sanctions against Iran for refusing to stop uranium enrichment, which can be used for nuclear power or bombs. Europe is offering Iran trade benefits in return for halting the nuclear activity.

"It's unavoidable that the Security Council will now take up deliberations with the goal of a resolution and the first step on sanctions," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said at a meeting with his EU counterparts Tuesday in Luxembourg.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said: "The Iranians have refused everything. We have only one solution: to return to the U.N. Security Council."

Europe is hardening its stance after Iran ignored an Aug. 31 U.N. deadline for halting uranium enrichment and rebuffed subsequent EU demands to make the concession to address suspicions that the nuclear program is disguising weapons development.

Iran, which holds the world's second-largest oil and natural-gas reserves, says it needs enriched uranium to fuel power stations.

The 25-nation EU has found itself between the U.S., which aims for U.N. sanctions against the government in Tehran; and Russia and China, which are working on energy projects in Iran and say they want to avoid economic curbs. Russia and China are among the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, along with the U.S., the U.K. and France.

To dissuade Moscow from blocking U.N. action against Iran, Russia would be permitted to work on a nuclear reactor in Iran even if the U.N. Security Council imposes sanctions on Tehran for its nuclear program, U.S. and European officials said.

The exclusion for the Bushehr project, a light-water reactor being developed with Russian help in southwestern Iran, is in a sanctions resolution drafted by Britain, France and Germany.

In New York, French U.N. Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere told Reuters the three European powers planned to put forward a draft U.N. Security Council resolution "during the course of this week."

Russia, which is being paid $800 million by Iran for its work on the reactor, holds a Security Council veto, so its support for the measure will be crucial.