US, Russia Spar Over Iran Sanctions

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, center, arrives with his delegation for a bilateral meeting with Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega, Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007, at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/David Karp) (David Karp - AP)

"I am sorry to tell President Ahmadinejad that the case is not closed," he said ahead of a meeting with senior diplomats from the five permanent Security Council members and Germany to craft elements of a new sanctions resolution.

"We're going to keep going," Burns told reporters. "If Mr. Ahmadinejad thinks somehow that he has been given a pass, he is mistaken about that."

Burns' talks over dinner with diplomats from Russia, China, Britain, France _ the other permanent Security Council members _ and Germany will set the stage for a second meeting on Thursday and then one between Rice and the group's other foreign ministers on Friday when the resolution is expected to be further defined.

However, he said it is unlikely that the text of a new resolution will be agreed to this week

The participant who did not want to be identified said Russia did not totally rule out a new resolution.

At Friday's meeting, the participant said, efforts will be made to lower the temperature and focus on practical measures.

As Burns spoke, Rice was assuring Iran's wary neighbors in the Persian Gulf of U.S. backing to improve their defenses against a "hegemonistic Iran" through proposed multibillion-dollar arms sales, a senior State Department official told reporters.

In a meeting with the foreign ministers of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council _ Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates _ along with Egypt and Jordan, Rice heard deep fears about Iranian attempts to dominate the region, the official said.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a private diplomatic exchange, said all eight countries told Rice that "they are not going to surrender to Iranian hegemony."

The Bush administration is in discussions with the Saudis and its other allies in the Gulf to prepare arms sales packages worth about $20 billion despite concern from some in Congress that they could destabilize the region and hurt Israeli security interests.

The senior State Department official said that details of the proposed sales were not discussed on Wednesday but that Rice told the Gulf ministers they could count on solid U.S. support.

Among ideas being considered for the new sanctions resolution against Iran are widening existing financial sanctions on Iranian entities and possible diplomatic measures, officials said.

The Bush administration is considering wide-ranging sanctions against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds force, which is accused of supporting insurgents in Iraq, by naming it an international terrorist group.

The Senate on Wednesday voted 76-22 in favor of a resolution urging the State Department to designate the corps as a terrorist organization.

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Associated Press writer Anne Flaherty in Washington contributed to this report.