WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday called foreign ministers of Britain, China, France and Russia in a bid to speed up sanctions against Iran, Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said.

    Rice urged the foreign ministers of the four countries to overcome the differences that have prevented agreement on the sanctions package, Burns said.

    "She put forward the proposal that we should try to work extremely hard to get that resolution passed as quickly as possible," Burns said.

    "We are working very hard at the UN Security Council to push for a resolution," he said.

    The UN Security Council adopted a resolution in late July, urging Tehran to suspend all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities by Aug. 31, including research and development, or face international sanctions.

    However, Iran insisted that it would not step back on its legal nuclear rights, warning the West not to imagine that the country would suspend uranium enrichment for even one day.