UNSC holds informal session on Iran N-crisis

Members of the UN Security Council held informal talks on the Iranian nuclear crisis to try to break the impasse over a draft statement.

Members of the UN Security Council held informal talks on the Iranian nuclear crisis to try to break the impasse over a draft statement demanding a halt to Iranian uranium enrichment.

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Diplomats said envoys of Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- the five veto-wielding permanent members of the council known as the P-5 -- had two rounds of talks on Monday, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon.

In between the two, the P-5 envoys huddled informally with their colleagues from the 10 other non-permanent council members to brief them on their deliberations.

After that meeting, Japan's UN envoy Kenzo Oshima told reporters: "I don't know if it's appropriate to call it a deadlock, the talks are going on and it's not an easy process."

But he said he did not expect an agreement to emerge before a meeting of foreign ministers from the P-5 and Germany scheduled for Thursday in Berlin.

"If they are to meet on Thursday in Berlin, one would expect as the most likely ...That there will be no agreement before that. It's not easy," Oshima said.

China's UN envoy Wang Guangya said the Europeans had made several new proposals while the Russian also submitted their own ideas.

The United States succeeded last month in persuading the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to refer the matter to the Security Council, which has the authority to impose punitive measures, including sanctions.