UNITED NATIONS, Dec 16: The five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany agreed with Arab diplomats to consult regularly on Iran’s nuclear programme, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Tuesday.

Rice was speaking to reporters after the six powers met representatives of Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to discuss what Washington says are Tehran’s plans to build a nuclear bomb — a charge Iran denies.

“All there expressed their concern about Iran’s nuclear policies and its regional ambitions,” Rice said, adding that they all expressed support for efforts by the UN Security Council, the six powers and the UN atomic agency on Iran.

“Noting the utility of the consultations, the states present agreed that they will want to continue their meetings on a regular basis,” Rice said.

Iran, which was not invited to the meeting at UN headquarters in New York, said Washington was “distorting the realities about Iran’s peaceful nuclear programme and about Iran’s constructive role in the region.”

Iran rejects western allegations that it is secretly amassing the capability to build atomic weapons and refuses to suspend what it says is a civilian nuclear energy program.

The six powers — Britain, the United States, France, China, Russia and Germany — have led negotiations on three rounds of UN sanctions against Iran for refusing to suspend its uranium enrichment programme.

The Iraq war, which brought to power a Shia-dominated government in Baghdad with close ties to Iran, has shifted the balance of power in the Gulf region, raising concerns among some Gulf Arabs about Iran’s growing influence.

In recent years a number of Arab states have announced plans to develop nuclear programs for civilian purposes.

In a statement criticising Tuesday’s meeting, Iran’s mission to the United Nations said the real concern for regional stability was not Iran but “the interference of the United States in the region and its tired divisive policies.”—Reuters