By Xinhua
Berlin : The German government has called for a new U.N. resolution of sanctions against Iran’s disputed nuclear program, said a Foreign Ministry spokesman on Wednesday.
“We believe such a resolution is necessary,” foreign ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger told reporters in Berlin.
Jaeger said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has invited his counterparts from the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council to join talks in Berlin next Tuesday.
“There is a plan for such a meeting … and we are in the process of checking whether everyone can make it,” he said.
Meanwhile, Steinmeier is scheduled to visit Vienna on Thursday for talks with Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog chief agreed with Iranian officials after his visit to Tehran last week that Iran should answer the remaining outstanding questions within a month over its nuclear program, which Iran says is purely for power generation.
The U.N. Security Council approved sanctions against Iran in December 2006 and strengthened them in March 2007 to stop the country’s uranium enrichment, a potential way to nuclear weapons.
A recent U.S. intelligence report said Iran halted its attempts to build nuclear-weapons in 2003, adding fuel to international disputes over how to deal with Iran.