WASHINGTON, Oct 11: The six major powers confronting Iran over its nuclear program instructed their UN ambassadors on Wednesday to begin drawing up a sanctions resolution against Tehran, a senior US official said.

Senior diplomats from the six -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States -- finalized a preliminary list of possible sanctions during a videoconference Wednesday morning, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

"As expected, it was agreed that the matter should now go to the (permanent representatives) in New York," he said, adding that consultations on drafting a Security Council resolution would likely begin later this week.

Iran defied an Aug 31 UN deadline for suspending a uranium enrichment program that Washington and others fear will be subverted to produce fissile material for nuclear weapons.

McCormack said that following weeks of intensive discussions among the six over how to proceed, there was now "a fundamental agreement on going to sanctions and a sanctions resolution" at the United Nations.

"I think there is broad agreement on the potential sanctions that would be included, but not yet agreement on the specific items that would be in a resolution, that has to be worked out," he said.

The five permanent Security Council members plus Germany drew up in June a list of 15 possible punitive measures against Iran as part of a "carrots and sticks" package that also included economic and political rewards if Tehran agreed to suspend uranium enrichment.

The plan, which was never officially released but was leaked to the press, called for a graduated series of measures, firstly targetting Iran's military programs and later, if these fail, moving to broader political and economic sanctions.

McCormack confirmed that list sent to the UN ambassadors on Wednesday was a "subset" of the sanctions included in the earlier document.

The broader list included an embargo on the export of goods and technologies linked to Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, a freeze on assets related to the programs and travel bans on nuclear and weapons scientists.

Tougher measures would prohibit financial transactions by individuals or organizations involved in the arms programs and a ban on investment in entities engaged in the programs.

Washington has been arguing in favor of imposing sanctions since Iran ignored the August 31 deadline.

But under strong pressure from China and Russia, which both have important economic ties to Iran and traditionally oppose sanctions as a diplomatic weapon, the US agreed to several additional weeks of negotiations aimed at convincing the Iranians to suspend enrichment and accept the incentives package.—AFP