ROME (AP) ââ¬â The British government will seek further sanctions against Iran over its atomic program, the prime minister said Tuesday.
The Bush administration has led the push for sanctions against Iran, but last month agreed to Russian and Chinese demands to give the country until November to address international concerns.
"We are absolutely clear that we are ready, and will push for, further sanctions against Iran," Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Tuesday in London.
"We will work through the United Nations to achieve this. We are prepared also to have tougher European sanctions. We want to make it clear that we do not support the nuclear ambitions of that country."
Brown sidestepped a question about when military action might be necessary.
"I believe the combination of our willingness to go through the UN process, which we will do, and our ability to take sanctions as a European Union, sends the strongest possible message to Iran," he said.
Saeed Jalili, a former deputy foreign minister for European and American affairs, was appointed his country’s chief nuclear negotiator after Ali Larijani resigned this weekend.
The U.N. Security Council has imposed two sets of sanctions over Iran’s refusal to suspend uranium enrichment.
The U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, with E.U. support, agreed last month to delay until November any new U.N. resolution to toughen sanctions, giving Iran more time to cooperate with an investigation into past nuclear activities by the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.