Major power foreign ministers to meet May 9 on Iran

WASHINGTON, Apr 29 (Reuters) Foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany will meet in New York on May 9 to discuss a united response to Iran's defiant pursuit of a nuclear program, US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said on Friday.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called the meeting, which follows a report yesterday by the world nuclear watchdog that Iran had ignored UN calls for it to stop enriching uranium, Burns told Reuters.

''The report and the Iranians' actions that produced it really compel some form of action now by the international community. ...

We think this will lead to consideration of a sanctions regime,'' he said.

Burns and other political directors from UN Security Council members Britain, France, Russia and China plus Germany are to lay the groundwork for the foreign ministers' meeting with talks on Iran in Paris on Tuesday.

There is no agreement yet, but ''the security council, to maintain its credibility, is going to have to find a way to act in a countervailing way'' against Iran, he said.

US officials said China's foreign minister may miss the May 9 session because of a scheduling issue, but Beijing would be represented by another official. Other foreign ministers are expected to attend.

At the United Nations in New York, Western diplomats said they planned to introduce a Security Council resolution by mid- week that would require Tehran to curb its nuclear ambitions.

The United States, backed by Britain and France, favors limited sanctions if Iran refuses to shelve enrichment quickly. But Russia and China, the other two veto-holding permanent Security Council members, who want to protect lucrative stakes in Iran's energy sector, have so far opposed such moves.

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