(Herald Tribune) - Major powers plan to meet in London this week to discuss new U.N. sanctions on Iran amid a spat between Washington and the U.N. nuclear watchdog over Tehran's nuclear ambitions, U.S. officials said on Tuesday.
The officials, who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to discuss the matter in public, said they expected the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany to meet toward the end of the week.
Washington and other Western countries suspect Tehran is developing nuclear weapons under the cover of its civilian nuclear program. Iran says its nuclear program is to generate electricity so it can export more of its valuable oil and gas.
Iran has so far spurned U.N. Security Council demands that it suspend its uranium enrichment program -- a process that can produce fuel for power plans or for bombs.
The meeting of the so-called P5+1 -- Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany -- was to have taken place two weeks ago in Berlin but China pulled out in protest against the U.S. Congress' plan to honor the Dalai Lama.
Its purpose is to discuss a possible third U.N. Security Council resolution imposing sanctions against Iran for its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment. It was unclear whether the London meeting would take place on Thursday or on Friday.
The world's major powers agreed in late September to delay a vote on tougher sanctions on Iran until late November at the earliest, depending on reports by the U.N. nuclear watchdog and a European Union negotiator.
Russia and China opposed an early move to tighten economic sanctions, saying Tehran should be given more time to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency to shed light on its past nuclear activities.