A US State Department spokesman said Monday, the six major powers seeking new sanctions against Iran over its disputed nuclear program want the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution soon, reported AFP.

Top officials of the council’s five permanent members — the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia — plus Germany discussed in Washington a new International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report on Iran’s nuclear activities and the next steps at the UN panel, spokesman Tom Casey said.

Also CNN cited State Department spokesman Tom Casey as saying: “We continue to expect a vote soon on the draft sanctions resolution currently being discussed in New York.”

The United States and its European allies are pushing for a new sanctions resolution after the UN atomic watchdog said it could still not confirm if the Iranian atomic drive was peaceful.

In an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro, Zalmay Khalilzad warned on the issue of the Iranian nuclear program and said: “From a certain point of view, time is not working in our favor — the Iranians are now planning to develop a new, more efficient generation of centrifuges and if they master that technology to produce fissile material they will have access to better enriched uranium.”