UN Security Council to start hearing Iran case next week

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Iran nuclear crisis will be brought to the UN Security Council next week, a top US official said.

"Iran has not met the conditions at the IAEA," Assistant Secretary of State Nicholas Burns told the House of Representatives Committee on International Relations.

"We will therefore start a new phase of diplomacy -- action by the UN Security council starting next week."

The United States, Britain, France and Germany are seeking a referral to the UN Security Council at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna.

Washington believes the Iranian nuclear programme is hiding efforts to make an atomic bomb. Tehran insists its research is peaceful.

"The UN Security Council is the right place to intensify the international debate on Iran's nuclear ambitions," said Burns.

"We plan a concerted approach at the UN that gradually escalates pressure on Iran. We will shine a bright spotlight on Iran's nuclear programme. We intend to participate in a vigorous international debate about Iran's nuclear ambitions."

Burns said the Security Council would make a strong statement about Iran and that if the Iranian government does not "accede to the wishes of the international community, then of course we would have to look at possible targeted sanctions, which a number of countries are already beginning to explore."

He said any sanctions "will be specifically targeted to pressure the regime and Iran's nuclear and missile programmes, rather than hurting the great majority of innocent Iranians."