WASHINGTON, Feb 17: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice conceded on Thursday it would take tough diplomacy to agree UN nuclear sanctions on Iran and suggested worried countries take their own action.

Ms Rice made her comments in a day of congressional testimony where she also called Tehran the ‘central banker’ for global terrorism and a partner with Syria in destabilising the Middle East.

The chief US diplomat claimed a major success in reporting the dispute over Iran’s nuclear activities to the Security Council, which has the power to slap sanctions.

But she added: “I do not underestimate the challenge that we have in getting robust actions, should Iran continue to defy the international community when we go into the Security Council.”

“There are many different interests that will be represented there, by many different countries, and we will have to work very hard to get robust measures,” Ms Rice told the House International Relations Committee.

The United States faced opposition from Russia and China, two of Iran’s major trading partners, which have a veto on the 15-member Security Council.

Looking at a possible impasse in the world body, US officials have been speaking of the possibility of countries using their own economic leverage to rein the Iranians in. Mr Rice was more explicit.

“If you do not get everyone to agree, there may be some measures that like-minded states can take that will still have a significant effect on the Iranian economy,” she told the legislators.

The United States says it has exhausted its own sanctions against Iran after cutting diplomatic relations and virtually all economic ties since the seizure of US hostages in 1979.—AFP