The five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany have agreed to start working on UN sanctions against Iran next week but have failed to bridge differences on how harsh the penalties should be, diplomats and officials said Thursday.

While the U.S. called for broad sanctions to punish Iran's nuclear defiance, Russian and Chinese representatives at a top-level Vienna
meeting Wednesday favored less severe measures, the diplomats said.

	Advertisement

In New York, U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns told the Council on Foreign Relations that package of incentives meant to persuade Iran to halt uranium enrichment remained on the table.

But he said Iran's stance left little choice but to "head back to the Security Council in a couple of days, at the end of this week or early next ... to begin the process of writing and then passing, we hope, a sanctions resolution that will raise the cost to the Iranians of what they are doing in the nuclear round."

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Thursday convened a meeting with senior cabinet minister and intelligence officials to discuss Israel's policy and course of action on Iranian and North Korean nuclear threats.

Japan's ruling party on Thursday approved a government plan to impose further sanctions on North Korea in the wake of its announcement that it conducted a nuclear test, a ruling party official said.

The party's General Affairs Council also approved legislation banning the entry of the main ferry that links North Korea and Japan, the official said on condition of anonymity, citing party policy.

Meanwhile, the United States on Thursday began pushing for a new UN resolution that adds a travel ban on North Korea, while South Korea said it detected no abnormal levels of radioactivity after the North's claimed nuclear test.