U.S. drafts new sanction bill against Iran

WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- The United States is drafting a new sanction resolution against Iran over its nuclear program, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Tuesday.

"What we're doing is working on the elements of a resolution," McCormack said at a briefing.

The United States is holding ongoing discussions with the other four permanent members of the UN Security Council, as well as Germany, McCormack said.

"We hope that these meetings and any intervening discussions will move the ball forward. The process hasn't moved as quickly as we would have liked, but that is par for the course with the Security Council resolutions," McCormack said.

Pushed by the United States, two UN Security Council resolutions have been passed to punish Iran for its defiance of UN warnings against its nuclear ambitions.

Washington has called a meeting of the five permanent Security Council members and Germany for Sept. 21 in Washington to discuss a new UN draft resolution on sanctions against Iran.

Germany, however, preferred to "give Iran a chance to recover the international community's lost confidence in its nuclear program."

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog, reached a deal with Tehran last month to bring transparency to Iran's nuclear program.

"If Iran is ready to do this ... then I think we can spare ourselves future sanctions debates," the German Foreign Ministry said last week.

The United States has accused Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, which Iran has denied. Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.