Clinton says not yet time for Iran sanctions

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday the time had not yet come for more sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme and praised what she said was Russia's help in tackling the issue.Following talks in Moscow with Clinton, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the two powers had made significant progress towards a new bilateral treaty cutting their stocks of strategic nuclear weapons, due to be signed in December 2009. Lavrov restated Russia's position that talk of sanctions against Iran at this stage was counter-productive because international efforts should be focused on diplomacy. Iran agreed at a meeting with world powers in Geneva on Oct. 1 to allow U.N. experts access to a newly disclosed uranium enrichment plant near the city of Qom. Officials called the talks constructive, but Clinton warned on Sunday the world would not wait forever for Iran to prove it was not building nuclear bombs.