Speaking to reporters in Washington, Burns said the Bush administration's goal was to exhaust diplomatic attempts to resolve Tehran's nuclear enrichment program before taking any other steps, but said U.N. debate was necessary in the meantime.

"I think the (U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency) would be the first to say that for 18 1/2 years, Iran lied to the IAEA is now public knowledge about the secret nuclear research activities that respective Iranian governments had undertaken," Burns said, adding that was why there was generally strong support at the United Nations for sanctions.

"The reason that so many countries, including non-aligned countries, are voting for sanctions against Iran, is that countries don’t trust the Iranian government," he said. "We trust the Indian government, which has been a responsible steward of its nuclear materials, nuclear fuel and nuclear technology, and has not sold it on the black market. We certainly trust Britain, France -- two nuclear powers. We don’t trust Iran."