The UN Security Council unanimously agreed Saturday to impose wideranging sanctions on North Korea, including inspection of cargo to and from North Korea, less than a week after Pyongyang defied the world by saying it had tested an atomic bomb.

"I can't recall of any case where the United Nations has taken such strong action against another nuclear state," said Joseph Cirincione, a weapons expert and former nuclear proliferation advisor to the US House of Representatives.

US-led actions against most recent nuclear renegades India and Pakistan, which also conducted nuclear tests outside the scope of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, were largely unilateral in nature and not spearheaded by the world body, he said.

While US officials were basking in the support from Russia and China for sanctions against their traditional ally North Korea, experts caution against expecting backing from the two communist powers for punitive action against Iran.

"Russia will point out that Iran's case is far less egregious than North Korea's and may well argue that if (the Security Council) takes a confrontational approach," then Iran may be prompted to drop out of the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT), said Karim Sadjadpour, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, a think tank.

Both Russia and China have extensive energy and economic links with Iran, which unlike North Korea is an NPT member.

The UN resolution imposing sanctions against North Korea was largely "symbolic" and aimed at prodding the already isolated nation back to the negotiating table, Cirincione said.

"I would not say this is going to transfer to another Iranian sanction resolution as the two situations are different," he said, pointing out that North Korea already had nuclear weapons while Iran is probably five to 10 years away from making an atomic bomb.

In China's case, North Korea has been to some extent a client state and Beijing had to bring in line the errant neighbour for defying advice not to carry out the declared nuclear test.

"The stakes are higher for China in Iran. It has an economic stake in Iran and its relations are tied with the entire Muslim world," Cirincione said.

The European Union is expected to announce in the coming week that it will leave it up to the Council to consider punitive action after four rounds of talks between the EU and the Islamic republic failed to reach agreement.

The United States is moving to gather international support to punish Iran for defying a UN Security Council decision calling on the Islamic republic to halt uranium enrichment, a process that could lead to nuclear bomb-making.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is going on a trip in the coming week to Japan, China and South Korea to discuss the implementation of the sanctions against North Korea and possibly push the case against Iran, officials said.

Peter Brookes, a former senior Pentagon official, said the UN action against North Korea was a signal that the world took its non-proliferation duty seriously and could influence the nature of possible sanctions on Iran.

"It sort of sends a strong message to Iran as what it might face in the coming weeks," he said. "It will probably affect how the Security Council deals with Iran -- the next problem -- in the coming weeks," Brookes said.

Rice may discuss a mechanism for implementing any UN sanctions against Iran, including through the US-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), during her Asian trip from October 17 to 22, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian affairs Christopher Hill indicated Friday.

"I think we may need to make sure it works for North Korea and I think we need to look ahead for other examples as well," he said, clearly referring to Iran.

South Korea and China are not participants of the PSI, an international coalition of states seeking to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

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