Rice: US Will Continue Sanctions Pursuit On Iran

Rice: US Will Continue to Pursue Sanctions Against Iran in Nuclear Dispute

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says Washington and other world powers have agreed to keep up pressure on Iran over its disputed nuclear program, including more possible sanctions.

Rice told reporters after talks with her NATO counterparts in Brussels Friday that all agree to continue a push for additional U.N. sanctions, if Iran refuses to stop enriching uranium - a process that can be used in developing nuclear weapons.

Secretary Rice also met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the meeting, but did not appear to have changed Russia's opposition to additional sanctions on Iran.

Lavrov told reporters that Moscow wants more talks in dealing with Iran's disputed nuclear program.

His meeting with Rice comes after a new U.S. intelligence assessment said Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003.

Russia has said its intelligence found no proof that Iran ever had a nuclear weapons program.

The United States says the findings in the intelligence report show that international pressure on Tehran has had an effect and must continue.

Iran has never acknowledged having a nuclear weapons program and says its nuclear activities are for peaceful purposes only.

ENDS

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