France and Britain urge strong sanctions on Iran

The call came after Iran vowed it “will not budge an iota” from its nuclear path despite a new UN report hardening suspicions it is seeking atomic weapons.

“The parties shared their utmost concern regarding the military dimension to Iran’s nuclear programme in the light of … (the) IAEA report and made clear their determination to seek new powerful sanctions if Iran refuses to cooperate,” the two nations said in their joint statement.

“Our goal remains to ensure that Iran fully adheres to its international obligations,” it added.

The UN nuclear watchdog, in its report published on Tuesday, said “credible” evidence existed of Iran working towards making nuclear warheads to fit inside Shahab-3 medium-range missiles.

Iranian officials immediately dismissed the report as “baseless”.

Washington said it was looking at imposing more sanctions on the Islamic republic in the wake of the report’s findings.