Report shows Iran not meeting obligations: Merkel

MESEBERG, Germany (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday that a report from the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog showed Iran was not meeting its obligations and consequences should be discussed in the U.N. Security Council.

"On the one side the door for negotiations with Iran remains open but on the other side the new IAEA report shows that Iran is not meeting its obligations," Merkel said at a joint news conference with French President Jacques Chirac.

Merkel was referring to a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), released on Thursday, which said that Iran had failed to meet a February 21 deadline to suspend enrichment of uranium which the West fears can be used to make atomic bombs.

"I think it is to be welcomed that the path continues to lead through the ... United Nations Security Council and here the talks will certainly have to be taken up," Merkel said.

"For us, it would be preferable if one did not have to go to the Security Council again but that Iran would take this opportunity and simply ... finally take up (one of) the offers (of talks) that we are making," she said.

Iran has said it wants to negotiate with the Europeans and even the United States but has refused to halt its nuclear enrichment program as a pre-condition. Tehran says its program is for peaceful purposes.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said last week it was likely Washington would seek another sanctions resolution on Iran, the clearest indication so far by a senior U.S. official that the U.S. was seriously considering such a step.