European states, backed by the United States, outlined late Tuesday a planned U.N. Security Council resolution to give "mandatory force" to the atomic watchdog agency's demands that Iran cease uranium enrichment, officials said.
U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns dismissed any possibility of direct talks with Iran but added he had not "given up hope on diplomacy." "Diplomacy has to be hard-edged. Isolation is what we believe will work best," Burns said, according to the AP. "Within a month or two or three, you are going to see international support for sanctions," he noted.
Burns was speaking at the start of talks in Paris by envoys from six nations in Paris.
The Security Council is scheduled to discuss the Iran nuclear issue on Wednesday.
The resolution was outlined at a closed-door meeting in Paris of political directors of the foreign ministries of France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China. The meeting ended Tuesday night.
