AFP reported that the United States and five other powers meeting in Washington D.C. on Friday are “committed to exploring possible further” sanctions against Iran to halt its sensitive nuclear work, the State Department said.

The United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany met in Washington to help prepare for a meeting next week of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her counterparts from the other five countries, it said.

At their talks, the foreign affairs political directors of the so-called P5-plus-one — the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany — also reviewed developments from their last meeting on July 19, it said.

They also discussed the concerns raised in the September 15 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report and “strongly urge Iran to cooperate fully with the IAEA’s investigation,” the statement said.

The IAEA, the UN’s atomic watchdog, said Iran had not frozen uranium enrichment activities as instructed by the United Nations.

The White House warned Iran Monday that Tehran faces possible new sanctions over its suspect nuclear program, but allowed that US-Russia tensions worsened by Moscow’s attacks on Georgia made seeking new UN action “slightly more complicated.”

“On this particular issue, we’ve arrived at a gridlock,” a senior official close to the IAEA said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The “alleged studies” suggest Iran may have been trying to develop a nuclear warhead, convert uranium and test high explosives and a missile re-entry vehicle.