U.S. to press for tougher sanctions against Iran

The United State will sponsor a new round of campaign to press tougher United Nations sanctions against Iran when diplomats are due to hold a strategy meeting on Iran's nuclear issue, the State Department said Wednesday. The United States and four other permanent members of the UN Security Council -- China, Russia, Britain and France, plus Germany will meet on Sept. 21 in Washington to have discussions over Iran. U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, leading negotiator on Iran sanctions, will represent the United States. "We of course would have liked to have seen a new Security Council resolution drafted by now, but again this works on the timetable of the Security Council which isn't always our timetable," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters. "We're confident we'll be able to move forward and get a new Security Resolution," he added. The United States has been in tense relationship with Iran since the 1979 storming of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. The United States has severed diplomatic relations with Iran since April 1980, five months after Iranian students occupied the American Embassy in Tehran. Fifty-two Americans were held hostage for 444 days. Washington has accused Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program. While threatening to keep all options including military resort, the Bush administration said that it is focusing on diplomatic means to try to resolve Iran's nuclear issue. Iran, which always denies U.S. charges, insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.