Accord on Iran sanctions proves elusive

A group of world powers failed to reach an accord on a U.N. resolution to punish Iran for defying demands to halt its nuclear program, the French Foreign Ministry said after talks in Paris.

“We made substantive progress on the scope of the sanctions targeting proliferation-sensitive activities. There remain several outstanding issues, upon which we will reflect over the coming days,” the ministry said in a statement.

The United States and France, two of the nations involved in the talks, had hoped the meeting would produce a resolution imposing sanctions on Iran. Western powers accuse Tehran of seeking nuclear bombs; Iran insists it wants only nuclear energy.