US President Barack Obama wants to see sanctions imposed against Iran “within a couple of weeks”.

The West fears Iran is developing nuclear weapons. Iran denies this and says its nuclear programme is only for peaceful purposes.

Russia and China oppose introducing more sanctions against Iran and both of these countries have a veto in the United Nations Security Council.

However, President Obama hopes to persuade Moscow and Beijing to agree to new sanctions “this spring”. His comments were made during a joint press conference with the French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who said he would do all he could to rally European support for sanctions.

The United Nations has imposed sanctions on Tehran three times before, but up to now they have failed to stop Iran's nuclear programme.