Washington and London said the diplomatic P5+1 group -- which includes fellow permanent UN Security Council members China, France, and Russia as well as partner Germany -- agreed it had "no choice" but to act.

The United States said the move enjoyed support from Moscow and Beijing -- which have resisted taking a harder line on Iran -- but China had no immediate reaction and Russia's UN ambassador said he was unaware of such consensus.

Top diplomats from the group discussed the stand-off by conference call in the wake of Iran's reply Tuesday to a rewards package for freezing uranium enrichment, said US State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos.

They "have agreed that we have no choice but to pursue further measures against Iran as part of this strategy," Gallegos said after the call, which also included European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

"Given the absence of a clear positive response from Iran and its failure to meet the deadline set by the UNSCR 1803, the P5+1 are discussing the next steps in the UNSC and beginning to consider the possible outlines of another sanction resolution," Gallegos read to reporters from a written statement.

The powers "have agreed that, while informal contacts between Mr Solana and Mr (Iranian negotiator Saeed) Jalili will continue, we now have no choice but to pursue further sanctions against Iran, as part of our dual-track strategy," British junior foreign minister Kim Howells said in a statement.

Asked whether there was agreement among the six to proceed to the drafting of a new sanctions resolution, France's UN deputy ambassador Jean-Pierre Lacroix replied: "Our objective is not sanctions for the sake of sanctions."

"We have to resort to the Security Council (sanctions) if we don't see there's any possibility to enter into a dialogue," he noted. "But we are getting closer to the point where we will make that determination."

Germany warned that Iran's reply was "insufficient" and urged a negotiated solution to the dispute over Western charges, denied by Iran, that Tehran's nuclear program conceals an atomic weapons quest.

"If Iran does not choose this path, the UN Security Council will be referred to once again," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said, a veiled reference to what would be a fourth round of UN sanctions.

While Gallegos called Tehran's reply to the package "a stalling tactic," Russia's UN ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, said: "We would have preferred a clear yes. But it is more complicated than that."

"We certainly do not believe that it is a foregone conclusion that it (the dialogue) is not going to be successful," Churkin also told reporters. "We think there is some potential to that dialogue."

Churkin said that the Group of Eight wealthy industrialized countries, including some of Iran's top trading partners, would discuss the issue of whether to seek further sanctions at a ministerial meeting next month.

"The door for acceptance remains open," said Gallegos, referring to the offer to Iran.

The Security Council has already ordered three rounds of sanctions against Iran. The United States says Iran is a weapons proliferation threat, while Iran insists that its nuclear research is for peaceful purposes.

Iran's latest letter to the international powers, delivered Tuesday, says only that "they are not prepared to move any further," according to another European diplomatic source in Brussels.

The letter said Tehran was ready to give a "clear response" to the international offer but demanded a "'clear response' to our questions and ambiguities."

Along with the threat of further sanctions, Washington has warned that the option of military action remains open.

Amid the continued tensions, Iran said on Monday it had successfully test-fired an anti-ship missile with a range of 300 kilometers (180 miles) that would allow it to close the Strait of Hormuz between Iran and Oman.

And adding to signs of new diplomatic pressure, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the main UN nuclear watchdog, said its deputy director general, Olli Heinonen, would visit Tehran on Thursday for talks on the nuclear dispute.

burs/ksh

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