US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton predicted Tuesday the UN Security Council would reach a consensus on imposing new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear enrichment program.

"The last 15 months have demonstrated clearly the unwillingness of Iran to fulfill its international obligations, and that's the basis on which I express my optimism that we're going to have a consensus reached in the Security Council," Clinton said at the end of talks here among G8 ministers.

"I think that the next weeks will be ones of intense negotiation in the Security Council among not only members of the Security Council but many interested countries," she said flanked by her counterparts from the Group of Eight most developed nations.

"We see a growing awareness on the part of many countries including China as to the consequences of a nuclear-armed Iran to regional and global stability, to our oil supply, and we think that there will be a consensus reached as to the best way forward," the top US diplomat added.

At the end of two days of discussions, the ministers from Britain, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States called on the international community to put more pressure on Iran to halt its suspected nuclear ambitions.

On Monday Clinton said China "will be involved" in international efforts to pen new sanctions against Iran.

China has been seen as the most hesitant member of the so-called "P5-plus-1" -- the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany that are negotiating with Iran -- over imposing further sanctions.