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British FM says financial sanctions important to pressure Iran

20 January 2010 02:23 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Ziya Agazade â€“ APA. Britainâ€™s Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on Tuesday that financial sanctions could have an important role in exerting pressure on Iran over its nuclear program.

Answering a question in parliament, Miliband said it would not be wise to give a public commentary on the sort of sanctions that were being developed.

His comments came three days after Britain and five other world powers failed to agree on new sanctions against Tehran.

Miliband denied that Britain, the United States, France, Germany and Russia were at odds with China over Iran.

â€œAll six countries (at Saturday’s meeting) agreed that now was the time to assess which of the sanctions options were the right ones to implement,â€ he said, according to Reuters.

He said that there was no suggestion from the Chinese â€˜that they want to deny the progress that needs to be madeâ€ on the issue, though China recently urged other powers to show more flexibility in dealing with Iran’s nuclear program, playing down prospects of sanctions.