Iran Tests the World

In a speech two days after Germany and members of the United Nations Security Council agreed to consult on sanctions against Tehran, the minister said the Iranian leadership "needs to realize that its nuclear program does not have the backing of the international community."

"We need to act firmly and demonstrate our unity," he said in an interview with the dpa news agency. "The international community is facing a test of its credibility."

Germany and the permanent members of the UN Security Council -- the US, Britain, Russia, France and China -- want Iran to cease uranium enrichment, a process that can produce weapons-grade fuel.

Iranian ministers have repeatedly said their country has a right to nuclear technology and will not suspend its atomic work.

Finding common ground on sanctions difficult

"The suspension (of the program) is completely unacceptable and we have rejected it," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters on Sunday. "It has no place in Iran's peaceful nuclear program."

Chief US negotiator Nicholas Burns said the so-called "5+1" group of Security Council members and Germany would start drafting this week a sanctions resolution, although he admitted finding a consensus on the extent of punitive measures would be difficult.

"I recommend to the 5+1 group not to talk to Iran with the language of threat and sanctions," retorted Iran's conservative parliamentary speaker Gholam Ali Hadad-Adel.

Some Security Council members, primarily the US and Britain, favor the imposition of sanctions while others, especially China and Russia, are eager to allow more time for a diplomatic solution to the impasse.

Sanction consultation not end of negotiations

At a meeting in London on Friday, the six nations heard that talks with Tehran on the issue had failed to produce a breakthrough. They then decided to consult on measures under Article 41 of the UN charter, which allows for economic sanctions.

Steinmeier defended the decision, but said it did not mean the end of negotiations with Iran.

An offer made in June allowing Iran to develop a civil nuclear program while reassuring the international community that it was not building a nuclear weapon remained on the table, he added.

The foreign minister said no one is interested in a confrontation with Iran, but insisted Tehran had to give a clear and unmistakable sign that it was willing to return to the negotiating table.