WASHINGTON, June 3rd (AFP) - The United States said Thursday it hopes for a UN Security Council vote by June 21 on tough new sanctions against Iran over what it calls its continued failure to curb its nuclear ambitions.
"We are going to put forward this resolution in the coming days. And we expect all responsible members of the international community... to support the resolution," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters.
"The president (Barack Obama) has indicated he wants to see this accomplished by the end of spring," he said, later clarifying that he meant a vote on the resolution by June 20 or June 21.
A senior State Department official later told reporters on the condition of anonymity that "sometime between now and June 20 I expect that this issue will come to a vote before the Security Council."
He said a report Monday by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog, underscores what he called Iran's continued failure to comply with its international obligations over its disputed atomic program.
Last month the United States introduced a draft resolution to impose tough new sanctions on Iran, saying it had the support of the four other permanent veto-wielding Security Council members: Russia, China, Britain and France.
The draft would expand an arms embargo and measures against Iran's banking sector and ban Tehran from sensitive overseas activities like uranium mining and developing ballistic missiles.
Senior US officials said Friday they were forging ahead with a resolution without Brazil and Turkey, two non-permanent Security Council members that brokered a nuclear fuel swap deal with Iran aimed at forestalling sanctions.