The US faces resistance to its attempts to broaden the scope of UN sanctions on Tehran to include a blacklist of commercial companies affiliated to the Revolutionary Guards, a ban on all arms exports, and measures aimed at constraining the state’s wider economy.

Talks on a new Security Council resolution continue in New York this week following Iran’s refusal to suspend its nuclear fuel programme as demanded by the council in December. President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad is reported to be keen to address the Security Council over the nuclear issue.