U.S. says agreement with China on new Iran sanctions

Nicholas Burns, U.S. Undersecretary for Political Affairs, gestures during a news conference at the end of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) ministerial meeting in Madrid November 30, 2007.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The United States has agreed with China on the basis for more United Nations sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, and said a deal could be reached if Russia is brought on board, a top diplomat said on Monday.

World powers held a meeting on Saturday aimed at agreeing more U.N. sanctions against Iran, which a French diplomat has said could lead to a deal on punitive measures within weeks, despite previous opposition from China and Russia.

"We were able, with the Chinese government, to focus on a number of areas where we would agree to sanctions," said Nicholas Burns, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, speaking to reporters in Singapore.

A decision on new sanctions could not be reached on Saturday as Russia's envoy was prevented from flying to the meeting in Paris because of snow in Canada.

"Now if we can bring the Russians on board, I think we'll have the makings of a third Security Council resolution," Burns said.

The five permanent U.N. Security Council members and Germany agreed in September to delay sanctions against Iran until the end of November, pending an investigation by the U.N. nuclear watchdog and a European Union mediation effort.

The last-ditch EU talks appeared to fail and the U.N. report found Iran was cooperating, but not proactively, which failed to satisfy all six powers.

In previous meetings Russia and China, which have strong trade ties with Iran, have agreed only to the mildest measures proposed by Britain, the United States and France.

"After six months of delay, I felt in our meeting the other day we made some progress," said Burns.

Tehran rejects Western charges it is pursuing nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian atomic program. It says it only wants to generate electricity, but its failure to allay international fears has prompted two rounds of U.N. sanctions.

(Reporting by Neil Chatterjee; Editing by Alex Richardson)