Special report: Iran Nuclear Crisis

The United States said on Tuesday that Iran is moving forward with its nuclear program and the UN Security Council should pass a resolution to impose sanctions on the country.

"It is clear that Iran is moving forward, full steam ahead, with its nuclear program," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said at a briefing.

"And I think this underscores the importance of the international community acting by way of passing a resolution which imposes sanctions on Iran, in an effort to get the Iranians to change their behavior and to underscore that the international community means business," McCormack said.

Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in Washington on Monday that Iran had taken another step in its ability to enrich uranium.

Iranian technicians had pieced together a second line, or cascade, of 164 centrifuges and are days away from using the cascade to enrich uranium, ElBaradei said, quoted by the Washington Post.

The United States has been seeking to impose sanctions on Iran through the UN Security Council on the grounds that the Islamic country develops a nuclear weapon program under the cover of a civilian program. However, Iran has said that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Iran has said it wants talks with the Europe, Russia, China and the United States but it will not suspend its nuclear work in advance.

Editor: Yan