World powers meet over Iran

By Louis Charbonneau

BERLIN (Reuters) - Senior officials from six world powers met in Berlin on Thursday to discuss Iran's defiance of U.N. demands that it stop uranium enrichment work the West believes is at the centre of a secret atom-bomb plan.

The United Nations has already imposed limited sanctions after Tehran rejected resolutions ordering it to freeze the work. Iran says its nuclear programme is for electricity to benefit its economy by allowing it to export more oil and gas.

Political directors from the five permanent U.N. Security Council members -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- plus Germany assessed the situation on the sidelines of a Group of Eight (G8) meeting in Berlin.

An official at the U.S. embassy confirmed that the meeting was over and that Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns had left Berlin heading to Croatia.

A diplomat from one of the six participating countries declined to give details about the talks. He said there would be more consultations among the powers.

"It was a good, constructive meeting. We'll be having further discussions amongst the countries in the coming days and weeks to see where we go from here," the diplomat said.

It was not immediately clear what decisions, if any, were made at the closed-door meeting. Diplomats from countries attending said the Americans had been eager to discuss possible language for a new sanctions resolution.

Germany's Foreign Ministry declined to comment after the meeting, but said earlier that new sanctions would not be discussed and countries were awaiting U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Mohammed ElBaradei's report on Iranian compliance with the U.N. resolutions in late May.