Thursday, April 20 2006 11:17 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Moscow: World powers showed divisions yesterday (Apr 19, 2006) over how to halt Iran's nuclear drive even as the United States claimed growing support for sanctions.

"Nearly every country is considering some sort of sanctions and that is new," US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns said after two days of talks here with other UN powers and Group of Eight members.

But the United States and Russia emerged from the meetings at odds over how to proceed, with Burns prodding Moscow to halt civilian nuclear cooperation with Tehran and Russia ruling out the use of military force.

"We also think it is important for countries to stop cooperation with Iran on nuclear issues, even on civilian nuclear issues like the Bushier facility," Burns said. Russia is Iran's biggest nuclear partner and is building the country's first atomic power station at Bushehr.

Meanwhile, the head of Russia's armed forces said his country would not take sides if the current Iran crisis led to a military conflict.

"Of course Russia will not, at least I as head of the general staff, suggest the use of force on one side or the other. Just as was the case in Afghanistan," chief of generalstaff General Yury Baluyevsky told reporters, referring to the 2001 US-led intervention to oust the Taliban.

Diplomats went into the Moscow talks repeating calls to build a united front in order to keep Tehran from exploiting their divisions to forge ahead with uranium enrichment. Iran insists its program is peaceful, but Western powers led by the United States suspect it of developing a secret atomic weapons programme. British Prime Minister Tony Blair had earlier today called for a show of unity from the world powers huddled in Moscow.

"I would have thought that this is the time for the world to send a clear and united message to the Iranian regime," Blair said.

French Foreign Minister Phillippe Douste-Blazy warned, too, that the veto-holding UN Security Council permanent members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States must be together if they were to dissuade Iran.

"If, on the contrary, the Chinese and the Russians, if the international community is not united it makes it easy for the Iranians to continue" to defy international demands to halt the programme, he said.

Paris and London were quick to stress that use of force was not on the table. French President Jacques Chirac, on a visit to Cairo, said world powers must explore all diplomatic possibilities", and Blair said, "Nobody is talking about military invasion of Iran or military action against Iran."

Russia and China, both of whom have strong trade ties to Iran, have shown extreme reluctance to threaten the use of force or even sanctions against the regime.

Burns refused to rule out unilateral action by Washington but said it would be best to work with other countries in doing so.

"We are going to act to deny Iran nuclear weapons capability," he said.

He also urged Moscow to dump plans to deliver to Iran a consignment of Tor-M1 mobile air defence systems, only hours after General Baluyevsky confirmed that deal would go through.

"It would be logical for that arms sale not to go forward," Burns said later. "No country should sell weapons to a regime like that," he said.

Tehran, which has resumed its nuclear activities in defiance of a UN demand for a freeze, announced last week it had successfully enriched a small amount of uranium for use as nuclear fuel.

Meanwhile, Britain, France and Germany the European Union negotiating team called the EU-3 held surprise talks in Moscow with an Iranian delegation.

Tehran said earlier today that an Iranian delegation had arrived in Moscow, led by deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and aides to Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani.

A senior French official told AFP after the meeting that Iran planned to step up uranium enrichment work soon and had asked European countries to participate in this effort.

Senior diplomats from the Group of Eight powers were in Moscow for talks ostensibly to prepare for a July summit but which were clearly overshadowed by the Iran standoff.

The UN Security Council is awaiting a report due by April 28 from Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the UN watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, on whether Iran has complied with its demands to freeze uranium enrichment.

Iran insists its program is peaceful, but enrichment can be extended from making reactor fuel to the production of warheads.

The row and Iran's defiant stand have helped drive oil prices to all-time highs and gold values to within sight of a 25-year high.