Iran will be censured at the United Nations over the next two weeks, diplomats said on Wednesday, in the wake of a crisis meeting of foreign ministers from the world’s big powers.

Such a move, which could pave the way to sanctions, follows Tehran’s rejection of a deadline to halt sensitive nuclear activities.

“We have no choice but to return to the UN Security Council,” said Philippe Douste-Blazy, the French foreign minister, summing up the conclusions of a meeting in Paris of the five permanent Security Council members plus Germany. “Iran has failed to take the steps needed to allow negotiations to begin.”

At issue is uranium enrichment, a process that can produce both nuclear fuel and weapons grade material. While Iran insists its purposes are peaceful, the US and European Union fear it is moving closer to developing nuclear weapons.

To date, Tehran has disregarded the calls to suspend enrichment as a precondition of negotiations on an international offer to improve ties. But the new UN resolution would make it mandatory on Iran to halt enrichment.

Previously Iran has been urged to suspend enrichment by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN’s nuclear monitor, but this was not legally binding – unlike a resolution.

If Tehran failed to halt enrichment by a certain period, probably one to two months, it could face more Security Council resolutions which would begin to impose sanctions.

“The Iranians do not want to find themselves in a position where they are excluded from normal relations with the rest of the world,” said a European diplomat, adding that possible sanctions ranged from “specific measures against Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes to [in the longer term] wider measures”.

Russia and China have previously voiced misgivings about imposing sanctions and diplomats acknowledged that any future resolutions would have to be negotiated between the Security Council members one by one.

The EU and the US still say the offer to Iran remains open, even though Ali Larijani, Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, failed to give even a partial response to the international offer at a meeting in Brussels this week with Javier Solana, EU foreign policy chief. “Negotiation is still the best path and negotiation is still open,” Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, told reporters on the flight to Paris.

The offer, expected to be made public as early as Thursday, would have moved towards lifting US sanctions on sectors such as aircraft parts and telecommunications. The European diplomat said: “We’ve kept it confidential to promote agreement, but since the Iranians have not responded we think we should circulate the document.”