In this matter, "it is not Europe who is in charge, but the United States," Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily.

"The faster there are direct negotiations, the better are the chances of reaching a solution," he said, in comments published in German.

"If the United States sits down at a table with North Korea, a regime that is not considered democratic and which also possesses nuclear arms, I don't understand why they can't negotiate with Iran," he added.

The UN Security Council has imposed three rounds of sanctions on Iran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment, a process which can be used to make the fissile material for a nuclear bomb.

The West says Iran aims to produce an atomic bomb -- a charge Tehran strongly denies. But China and Russia have been reluctant to seek new sanctions against Iran despite its continued defiance of the UN nuclear watchdog.

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