World powers held a "positive" meeting on Iran but failed to reach a decision on further sanctions to punish Tehran's disputed nuclear programme, a French diplomat said.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak got stuck in snow in Canada and was not at the Paris meeting, which came the day after EU mediator Javier Solana held talks with the Iranian nuclear negotiator the diplomat described as "a disaster." "We have elements that allow us to think that we will have a resolution in the short-term," the French diplomat said, referring to sanctions.

The five permanent U.N. Security Council members and Germany agreed in September to delay sanctions against Iran until the end of November, pending reports on an investigation by the U.N. nuclear watchdog and a European Union mediation effort.

The states decided that if the reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the EU's Solana did not show "a positive outcome", they would agree on more sanctions against Iran and put it to a vote in the Council.

Solana said his last meeting with Iran's top nuclear negotiator on Friday was disappointing. The IAEA report found Iran was cooperating, but not proactively, making it likely that Western states will resume their push for sanctions.

In previous meetings Russia and China, which have strong trade ties with Iran, have agreed only to the mildest measures backed by Britain, the United States and France.

Tehran rejects Western charges it is pursuing nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian atomic programme. It says it only wants to generate electricity, but its failure to allay international fears has prompted two rounds of U.N. sanctions.

The Security Council has demanded Iran suspend uranium enrichment, a process that can produce fuel for power plants or, potentially, nuclear weapons. Tehran has refused and said it has a right to the sensitive technology.