Six world powers last night agreed to discuss possible sanctions to punish Iran for failing to halt its nuclear programme, but said they were still open to negotiations with Tehran.
The West suspects Iran's nuclear programme is a smokescreen to make a nuclear bomb, and Tehran missed an August 31st UN Security Council deadline to stop uranium enrichment. Iran says its programme is only for power generation.
"Further pressure is needed," British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett told reporters after talks with ministers from the United States, France, Germany, Russia and China.
In July, a UN resolution authorised the Security Council to "adopt appropriate measures" to pressure Iran under article 41, Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which referred to commercial or diplomatic sanctions but excluded military force.
"We are proposing to consult on measures under Article 41. That means not military measures but it does mean other measures which can put pressure on Iran in order to bring them to the negotiating table," Mr Beckett said after the London talks.
After four months of negotiations between European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and top Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, Tehran says it will not stop its atomic work and has a right to nuclear technology.
While Washington, backed by Britain, is lobbying hard for sanctions, Russia and China have opposed this route. Apart from Germany, the powers that met in London are veto-holding Security Council members.
A European diplomat said the meeting had essentially shifted future talks on whether to start drafting sanctions back to New York, under the auspices of the United Nations.
"We bring back the ball to the Security Council," the diplomat said. "The real discussion on sanctions is going to be in New York."