BRASILIA (Reuters) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton failed to win Brazil’s support yesterday for more sanctions against Iran and said Tehran would not talk seriously about its nuclear programme until the United Nations took new action.

Even before he met with Clinton, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said “it is not wise to push Iran into a corner. It is wise to establish negotiations.”

Clinton’s visit to Brasilia came as US diplomats seek to persuade key UN Security Council members that the time has come for action on Iran, which has defied UN demands that it stop enriching uranium.

“Personally speaking, I think it’s only after we pass sanctions in the Security Council that Iran will negotiate in good faith,” Clinton said. “That is my belief, that is our administration’s belief: that once the international community speaks in unison around a resolution then the Iranians will come and begin to negotiate.”

While most attention is focused on Russia and China, which hold veto power over any UN resolution, the United States had hoped to win over key non-permanent Security Council members such as Brazil and Turkey to present a united front on the Iran nuclear stand-off.

Lula, who has upset Washington by pursuing close ties with Tehran, has repeatedly voiced caution over the drive by the United States, Britain, France and Germany for new sanctions over Iran’s nuclear programme, which they fear is a cover for making atomic weapons.

Tehran has denied the accusation, and says its programme is purely for peaceful purposes.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim repeated that Brazil felt there was room for two or three months more negotiation with Iran.

“We still have some possibility of coming to an agreement … but that may require a lot of flexibility on both sides,” Amorim said at a news conference with Clinton in Brasilia.

“We will not simply bow down to the evolving consensus if we do not agree.”

Clinton, who is on a tour of Latin America, expressed disappointment with Brazil’s position, and said talks had proved fruitless with Iran.

“The door is open for negotiation, we never slammed it shut. but we don’t see anybody even in the far off distance walking toward it,” Clinton said.

She urged countries to be cautious about Iran’s assurances that it had only peaceful intentions. “We have seen an Iran that runs to Brazil, an Iran that runs to Turkey and an Iran that runs to China, telling people different things to different people to avoid international sanctions,” she said.

The United States and European Union yesterday kept up the hot rhetoric, accusing Iran of breaking nuclear transparency rules by escalating uranium enrichment without UN surveillance and saying its “provocative” behavior invited tougher sanctions.

They spoke at a tense meeting in Vienna of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency. A diplomat inside the closed-door meeting said China’s ambassador reiterated that Beijing still believed the time was not right for sanctions against its major trade partner, further complicating the western-led push for quick moves to sanctions.

Lula told reporters that while Brazil supported more negotiation with Iran it would “not support any move by Iran to go beyond the peaceful use of nuclear energy.”

He added that he planned to have a “frank discussion” on the subject with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when he visits Tehran in May.

Diplomats told Reuters this week that the western powers had already prepared a draft proposal for a fourth round of sanctions against Iran for defying UN demands that it stop enriching uranium.

If the four Western powers win the support of Russia and China, negotiations on the first new UN sanctions resolution in two years could begin immediately.