Pressure is building in the West for new international sanctions against Iran, following its announcement that it will step up uranium enrichment.

伊朗宣布着手进行铀浓缩方案之后，西方国家正在就促成对其进行新一轮的国际制裁施加压力。

Iran's nuclear programme has alarmed Western powers

After talks in Paris, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the US Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, said the time had come for "strong" measures.

The British government described Iran's new position as deeply worrying.

Earlier, Iran's nuclear chief said it had told the UN's nuclear watchdog（监督部门） it would begin enriching uranium to 20%.

Ali Akbar Salehi also said it would build 10 new enrichment plants next year, despite the fact that it still had problems with its first one.

The US and its Western allies fear Iran is attempting to develop a nuclear weapon, which could require uranium enriched to at least 90%. Iran insists its nuclear programme is entirely¹ peaceful.

At their meeting on Monday, President Sarkozy and Mr Gates "agreed that the time has come for the adoption² of strong sanctions, in the hope that dialogue will be resumed", an official at the Elysee Palace told reporters.

They both felt the "hand held out（伸出，提出） to [Iran] has not been grasped", he said.

The UN Security Council has already imposed three rounds of sanctions against Iran in an effort to（试图，企图） make it cease all uranium enrichment activities and heavy-water projects, which could produce weapons-grade plutonium（钚） .

Speaking after earlier talks with the French Defence Minister, Herve Morin, Mr Gates said he still wanted to "try and find a peaceful way to resolve this issue".

"The only path that is left to us at this point, it seems to me, is that pressure track, but it will require all of the international community to work together," he added.

'Blackmail³'

"We have to face the reality that if Iran continues and develops nuclear weapons, it almost certainly will provoke（激怒，煽动） nuclear proliferation in the Middle East. This is a huge danger."

Mr Morin said: "It will unfortunately be necessary to launch a dialogue with the international community that will lead to new sanctions if Iran does not stop its programmes."

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner was even more forceful in his comments, saying: "This is real blackmail. The only thing that we can do, alas⁴, is apply sanctions given that negotiations⁵ are not possible."

For its part, the UK urged Iran to address the legitimate⁶（合法的，正当的） concerns about its nuclear programme and to "start restoring trust in its intentions".

In Russia, a parliamentary spokesman said the international community should act swiftly to send a signal of intent, and called on Iran to abide⁷ by its earlier agreements to send its uranium abroad for enrichment.

A deal was thought to have been struck in October between Iran, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the so-called P5+1 - the US, Russia, China, UK, France plus Germany.

It envisaged⁸（面对，正视） Iran sending about 70% of its low-enriched uranium to Russia and France, where it would be processed into fuel for a research reactor⁹（研究反应堆） .

Last month, diplomats¹⁰ said Iran had told the IAEA that it did not accept the terms of the deal, although there have since been other, conflicting messages.

Speaking on Sunday evening, Mr Salehi said that enriched uranium production would be halted（停止，停顿） if Iran received fuel enriched to 20% from abroad.