UN should consider binding resolution on Iran: Rice

WASHINGTON - AFP - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United Nations should consider adopting a resolution against Iran's nuclear programme under chapter seven of the UN charter, which could allow military action.

Chapter seven sets out specific actions that can be taken when there is a threat to international peace or an act of aggression.

"When the Security Council reconvenes, there will have to be some consequence for that action and that defiance and we will look at the full range of options available," Rice said, referring to Iran's uranium enrichment activities in defiance of a previous non-binding UN Security Council resolution.

Several resolutions adopted by the United Nations Security Council against Iraq, before the March 2003 US-led invasion, were taken under chapter seven of the charter.

Rice told reporters the Security Council, unlike the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), had the authority to order a government to comply with its orders.

"One thing the Security Council has and the IAEA does not have is the ability to compel through chapter seven resolutions member states of the UN to obey the will of the international system," Rice said.