Special report: Iran Nuclear Crisis

    UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton signaled on Monday that the United States may bypass the UN Security Council to take punitive measures against Iran if the council fails to do so.

    "The question of what to do about Iran is certainly not confined to the Security Council," Bolton told reporters at UN headquarters.

    "You can envision sanctions being imposed outside of the Security Council as the United States has unilaterally imposed sanctions on Iraq pursuing to its own statutes ... Other governments can do the same," he said.

    His comments reflected an earlier interview with the Los Angeles Times later last week in which the U.S. envoy said the United States planned to introduce a resolution imposing penalties such as a travel ban and asset freeze for key Iranian leaders soon after the Aug. 31 deadline.

    During the interview, he also voiced optimism about a unified council action against Iran.

    "Everybody's been on board," Bolton told the newspaper, adding that in case the council cannot reach a deal on passing a resolution authorizing the sanctions, the United States would work on a parallel diplomatic track outside the United Nations.

    The 15-member council has give Iran until the end of the month to halt enrichment or face possible sanctions. Enditem

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    Iran dismisses U.S. sanction threat

    TEHRAN, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Iranian government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham dismissed on Monday a U.S. threat to act independently with allies to impose sanctions on Iran over its nuclear issue if the UN Security Council failed to do so after an Aug. 31 deadline.

    "Such remarks are an obvious insult to the United Nations Security Council. They are just bullying remarks," Elham told a weekly press conference, adding, "The statements showed that these people are not qualified to be a member of the Security Council."