British foreign secretary hopes for quick implementation of UN sanctions against Iran

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said Monday she hoped a quick implementation of United Nations sanctions against Iran would force Tehran back to the negotiating table to discuss its nuclear program.

European Union foreign ministers were discussing how they would implement limited sanctions approved by the U.N. Security Council in December.

EU officials said the 27-nation bloc would implement the measures in early February.

Beckett said Monday's talks were meant to work out "how we can fully implement the U.N. resolution so as to keep pressure on Iran to accept the offer of the international community to come back to the negotiating table."

She told reporters that the EU would implement the sanctions "as speedily and effectively as we can."

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who was chairing Monday's EU talks, said there was unity among all EU ministers on adopting the U.N. sanctions.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday that the sanctions would not deter his country from pursuing its nuclear program, which the United States and EU fear is being used to make weapons. Tehran says the program is only to produce energy.

The U.N. Security Council imposed limited sanctions to punish Iran for defying a resolution demanding that it suspend uranium enrichment, a process that can produce material to fuel nuclear reactors or to build bombs.

EU officials said they were already drafting regulations to implement the U.N. sanctions, which include a ban on selling materials and technology that could be used in Iran's nuclear and missile programs and the freezing of assets of 10 Iranian companies and individuals.

The EU already has in place a de-facto 10-year ban on the sale of weapons to Iran.