The United States said on Monday that Iran should resume its nuclear talks with the EU "in a serious way" and warned that it may refer the issue to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.

"We hope that the Iranians do come back in a serious way to negotiate. If not, there are certainly a number of other diplomatic steps to take," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said at a briefing.

McCormack said that the United States already have the votes within the IAEA Board of Governors to refer Iran to the Security Council.

"We chose not to pursue that course, but it is an option. And frankly, given Iran's past behavior, we believe that it is likely that Iran will be referred to the Security Council," he said.

McCormack said that Russia has put forward an "interesting" proposal that would not allow Iran access on its soil to that sensitive nuclear fuel cycle technology that could lead as a next step to a nuclear weapon.

"So we believe that is a very interesting proposal from the Russian government. We support the Russian government and the EU-3in making that proposal to the Iranian government," he said.

Iran's talks with the EU have been stalled after Iran recently announced to resume uranium activities.

Source: Xinhua