Updated on Wednesday, May 03, 2006, 00:00 IST

Washington, May 03: The United States is ready to form a coalition of countries to take sanctions against Iran if the UN Security Council does not agree measures, the US ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton said.

Bolton told a Congress committee that the United States and its allies would press ahead with a first UN Security Council resolution condemning Iran even if Russia and China abstain.

He added that if one of the permanent members of the Security Council vetoed a later measure ordering sanctions, the United States would seek alternative ways to punish Iran.

"If we were faced with a veto by one of the permanent members, if for whatever reason the Council couldn't fulfill its responsibilities, then I think it would be incumbent on US, and I'm sure we would press ahead to ask other countries or other groups of countries to impose those sanctions," Bolton said.

The ambassador said Iran had been "very effective at applying their oil and natural gas resources to apply leverage against countries to protect themselves" from international pressure.

He said the United States and its allies were preparing a resolution this week under chapter 7 of the UN Charter "which will make mandatory on Iran all of the existing IAEA resolutions calling on it to suspend its uranium enrichment programme and so on."

Chapter 7 allows for economic sanctions and eventually military strikes. But the first resolution is not expected to threaten sanctions.

The US, Britain, France and Germany believe the Iranian programme hides an attempt to build a nuclear weapon.

Bureau Report