The United States said Monday it hopes it can soon obtain a UN sanctions resolution against Iran as the foes intensified their drives to win Security Council support for their rival stands.

"We are actually engaged in New York in a variety of different groupings... to reach a conclusion on the particulars of a resolution," State Department Philip Crowley told reporters.

"And we want to get this done as soon as possible," Crowley said.

The United States and Iran have been seeking to sway countries like Russia and China -- permanent Security Council members -- and others like Brazil, Turkey and Uganda which all have temporary seats on the 15-member council.

Russia has shown increasing support for sanctions but China -- which like Russia is a veto-wielding council member -- has called for more diplomacy to resolve the standoff with Iran over its suspect nuclear program.

Brazil and Turkey have also been reluctant to support sanctions while Uganda refused to reveal its position after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad paid a visit there at the weekend.

A senior State Department official said Washington doubted Iran would succeed in its drive for support and disclosed that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton challenged Ahmadinejad's campaign in Uganda.

"Iran is going around the world trying to evade responsibility ... but I think we are confident that the UN Security Council will put forth a resolution," he said.

"Countries are very conscious of Iran's failure to live up to its obligations. No-one wants to see the (nuclear) Non-Proliferation Treaty undercut," the official said.

While Ahmadinejad was in Uganda, "the secretary had a conversation with the Ugandan president who indicated he would raise certain issues with Iran and help them understand what their responsibilities are," the official said.

"Now how Iran responds to this, we will see," he added.

The United States and its allies fear that Iran is seeking to acquire atomic weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear energy program, while Tehran insists the program is peaceful in nature.

earlier related report
Sanctions against Iran would be 'unfair': Brazil FM
Tehran (AFP) April 26, 2010 - UN Security Council member Brazil said on Monday that imposing sanctions against Iran would be "negative and unfair," as world powers increase the pressure to adopt new measures against Tehran.

Brazil, a non-permanent council member, also reiterated its support for Iran's quest for "peaceful" nuclear energy, saying Tehran has the right to pursue such activity.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, meanwhile, criticised the UN Security Council and the veto power of its five permanent members as "Satanic tools" aimed at "oppressing" mankind.

"Iran has the right to conduct its peaceful nuclear activity in peace," Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim told parliament speaker Ali Larijani in Tehran during talks focusing on the Islamic republic's nuclear programme.

"Sanctions are negative moves which bear no fruit and are unfair," he said, the ISNA news agency reported.

Larijani, a conservative lawmaker himself and Tehran's former chief nuclear negotiator, criticised the West for talking about sanctions against Tehran.

"Issuing resolutions and imposing sanctions is not the correct language for dialogue and interaction with Iran," Larijani said, adding that "sensationalism and making a fuss will not have any influence on the Iranian people's will to resist."

Earlier on Monday in a separate meeting with Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, Amorim backed Tehran's pursuit of nuclear energy.

"What we want for Brazilian people is what we want for Iranian people, which is expansion of peaceful nuclear activities," he was quoted on the state television website as telling Jalili.

Amorim, whose two-day visit paves the way for a high-profile trip to Iran next month by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is expected to meet other senior Iranian officials, including Ahmadinejad under whose presidency relations between the two nations have flourished.

Amorim's visit comes as world powers push for a new set of UN sanctions against Tehran for enriching uranium, the most controversial aspect of its nuclear work.

As a temporary UN Security Council member, Brazil has not indicated whether it would vote for or against a possible sanctions resolution targeting Iran.

World powers accuse Iran of masking a weapons drive under the guise of what Tehran says is a purely civilian atomic programme.

Washington has stepped up its efforts to impose new sanctions on Iran after a nuclear fuel deal drafted by the UN nuclear watchdog for a Tehran research reactor hit deadlock.

For a sanctions measure to pass, nine of the 15 Security Council members would have to vote in favour, as long as none of the five permanent members employs its veto.

One veto-wielding power, China, still continues to insist that a diplomatic solution is the way to resolve the crisis.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is travelling to Beijing on Thursday seeking to secure Beijing's backing for a sanctions resolution, a European diplomat said in Luxembourg.

"The Chinese haven't supported the idea of fresh sanctions but they have allowed the process to move forward," he said.

"Probably the best we can hope for is an abstention," he said. "What we want to hear from the Chinese is that they are on the same page as the EU."

But on Monday Ahmadinejad, in an address to police commanders, lashed out at the UN Security Council structure.

"Mankind does not need the atom bomb, massive invasion or even the Security Council and its veto right," the hardliner said, according to ISNA news agency.

"These are all for oppressing and destroying the reality of human beings and are Satanic tools."

Brazil, apart from other UN Security Council members such as Turkey and Lebanon, has defended Iran's nuclear programme and given little credence to US arguments that Tehran is trying to secretly develop a nuclear arsenal.

Amorim said in a press interview on Sunday: "I don't see Iran being close to making a bomb."

"Call us naive, but I think those who believe in everything the US intelligence service says are much more naive. Look at the case of Iraq."