Russia says meeting on Iran sanctions yields no decision

A six-power meeting to discuss future action over Iran's nuclear program focused mainly on possible further UN sanctions but ended without a decision, Russian delegate Sergei Ryabkov said on Saturday.

"It (the meeting) is inconclusive in the sense that we didn't make any decisions right away," Ryabkov told reporters after the meeting between diplomats from the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China.

The US representative, William Burns, said, "It was a very useful session."

The meeting came after Iran ignored an end of 2009 deadline set by US President Barack Obama for it to respond to an offer from the six powers of economic and political incentives in exchange for halting its nuclear enrichment program.

All the powers except China sent foreign ministry "political directors" – top-level diplomats – to Saturday's meeting. But Beijing, which is much the least enthusiastic about more sanctions on Iran, sent only a mid-ranking diplomat from its UN mission.

The Chinese official left without speaking to reporters.

"We talked mostly about the second track, but it doesn't mean we should abandon the first one," Ryabkov said. He was referring to a so-called "dual-track" policy drawn up by the six, of which the first track is dialogue with Tehran and the second is sanctions.