Door not closed on Iran talks - German Minister

PARIS, July 12 (Reuters) World powers have kept open the door for talks with Iran, Germany's foreign minister today said following a meeting with his counterparts from the United States, Britain, Russia, China and France.

''We have not finally closed the door to negotiations,'' frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters.

He said he hoped that some within the Iranian leadership would understand the signal being sent by the six world powers and would be ready to return to the negotiating table.

Steinmeier said if Iran failed to react ''within an appropriate time'', the six powers would meet again ''to discuss further measures, possibly including sanctions''.

Separately, a European official said world powers wanted to get an UN resolution on Iran agreed within the next few weeks.

''We want to get the first resolution sorted out in the next couple of weeks,'' the official said.

World powers said they would refer Iran to the United Nations Security Council after Tehran failed to respond quickly enough to a package of incentives aimed at defusing a nuclear standoff.

REUTERS SI VC2258