Senior officials from six world powers said on Friday they were disappointed Iran had not accepted proposals intended to delay its potential to make nuclear bombs, and urged Tehran to reconsider.
But the officials, from Britain, France, the United States, Germany, Russia and China, stopped short of specific discussion of further sanctions that could be imposed on Iran, a senior EU official said after the talks in Brussels.
"We are disappointed by the lack of follow-up on the three understandings reached (in the proposed deal)," the powers said in a joint statement, which said Iran had not agreed to a meeting before the end of October to discuss the nuclear issue.
Urging Iran to reconsider
We urge Iran to reconsider the opportunity offered by this agreement... and to engage seriously with us in dialogue and negotiations
"We urge Iran to reconsider the opportunity offered by this agreement... and to engage seriously with us in dialogue and negotiations," said the statement read out by Robert Cooper, the EU official who chaired the meeting.
The International Atomic Energy Agency had brokered a plan under which Iran would send low-enriched uranium to Russia and France, but Tehran on Wednesday rejected the proposal.
Under the initiative, Iran was given the option of shipping some 75 percent of its low-enriched uranium out of the country for it to be converted into fuel plates for a Tehran reactor that makes isotopes for cancer treatments.
The six powers met after U.S. President Barack Obama warned there could be a package of sanctions against Iran within weeks.
A senior EU official said sanctions were discussed at the meeting in general, not specific terms. "These things are about timing and this was not the right time," he said.
The statement said the six agreed to stay in contact on the nuclear issue and expected to hold another meeting soon.
"We are talking about weeks, not months. It's a question of whether we meet before or after Christmas," an official said.
The six powers also said Iran's construction of a second uranium enrichment site violated U.N. resolutions and said the International Atomic Energy Agency would have to address the issue at a Nov. 26-27 meeting.
IAEA refuses sanctions
It is a unique opportunity to move from sanctions and confrontation to the process of building...trust
Meanwhile, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei rejected earlier on Friday imposing sanctions on Iran, saying they would make Tehran more hawkish.
ElBaradei added that he hoped for an agreement with Iran on an offer to send enriched uranium abroad for further processing before the end of the year.
"It is a unique opportunity to move from sanctions and confrontation to the process of building...trust," ElBaradei, told a news conference in Berlin.
"I believe frankly the ball is very much in the Iranian court," he added. "I hope they will not miss this
Many in the West suspect that the Islamic republic is covertly trying to build a nuclear weapon. Tehran insists it is only developing a civil energy program, and has rejected attempts to force it to stop uranium enrichment.
Iran's offensive against U.S.
If our nation sees they have changed their behavior, dropped their arrogant attitude ... and return Iranian nation's rights and assets, the nation will accept that
Russia played down those prospects, but France ruled out further talks sought by Iran on technical aspects of the deal.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, meanwhile, again went on the offensive against Washington.
"If our nation sees they have changed their behavior, dropped their arrogant attitude ... and return Iranian nation's rights and assets, the nation will accept that," he said in a televised speech.
Obama has pursued a carrot-and-stick policy, offering diplomatic engagement but also threatening tougher sanctions if Iran does not come clean over its atomic program.
Washington froze Iranian government assets in 1979 after Islamist militants stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took its staff hostage, which led to the scrapping of diplomatic relations in 1980.
Iran has refused to halt enrichment despite three sets of U.N. sanctions and it drew outrage in the West by disclosing in September a new enrichment plant, Fordo, which is being built inside a mountain near the holy city of Qom.
Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Tehran wants more talks and is prepared to consider a simultaneous exchange of uranium for fuel for its Tehran reactor.
But the IAEA has already said that such an exchange is unacceptable to the Western powers, who have tired of Iran's continued brinksmanship, and alleged lack of good faith.
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