. . .

QUESTION: Turns out that the Iranians had submitted some days ago their formal response to the LEU proposal in which they described a sort of counterproposal. What is the Department's comment on that Iranian --

MR. CROWLEY: I'm not sure that they've delivered a formal response, but it is clearly an inadequate response. And --

QUESTION: What do you mean it wasn't a formal response?

MR. CROWLEY: I'm not - I asked the question; I'm not sure that whatever they've done, perhaps today, is any different than what they've done previously. We don't think it's an adequate response. We believe that we've put on the table a fair, reasoned, approach. And Iran has not addressed the concerns of the international community on its - answered the questions that have been raised about its nuclear program. We had a very useful meeting in New York on Saturday within the P-5+1 process, and we will continue to discuss with our partners and a range of countries appropriate next steps and options that might exist going forward. So we do not view Iran's gestures as being adequate.

QUESTION: Why do you say it was a useful meeting?

QUESTION: Yeah.

MR. CROWLEY: It was a useful meeting.

QUESTION: But we don't see any signs of usefulness from our perspective.

MR. CROWLEY: How so?

QUESTION: Well, you had a lower-level Chinese official --

MR. CROWLEY: Mm-hmm.

QUESTION: And --

MR. CROWLEY: We had (inaudible) --

QUESTION: -- you've been talking a lot about --

MR. CROWLEY: We had --

QUESTION: -- moving towards sanctions, and I don't see any --

MR. CROWLEY: Well, I think there - we have a shared view. There was a statement put out on Saturday that recommits the P-5+1 that we continue to have concerns. We continue to see the Iranian response as inadequate. We continue our conversations in terms of options that are available to us, both in terms of the Security Council going forward but also steps that can be taken in a coordinated way, on a national basis. We're developing options on the pressure track. At the same time, the door is open for further dialogue with Iran, but so far, they haven't been willing to engage us seriously. So we thought it was a constructive meeting and we'll continue this process.

QUESTION: China needs more persuading?

MR. CROWLEY: I don't think that we bridged different views that the United States and others and China have about the issue of sanctions. These are longstanding concerns and we'll continue to talk to China about them.

QUESTION: Can you just give us a little more detail on what exact steps you talked about in a coordinated way on a national basis on this pressure track?

MR. CROWLEY: Well, we - there are existing sanctions --

QUESTION: Right.

MR. CROWLEY: -- and there are other options that countries individually can take.

QUESTION: So what specifically did you - was discussed on Saturday?

MR. CROWLEY: Well, we are developing a list - a set of options and we're not going to discuss them here.

QUESTION: Well, wait a minute. Is - one more follow-up on that. I mean, if you're now - you guys have talked for some time about - including the Secretary - about working with likeminded states. But if that's what you're talking about at the P-5+1, it suggests to me that you don't have high hopes for another UN Security Council resolution that would provide the imprimatur of the international community for sanctions.

MR. CROWLEY: I think - we are moving on both tracks. We believe we are making progress. And when we have - when the process has gone down the road a bit further, I think you'll see some actions emerge. But we are considering what to do next. We're consulting closely.

. . .