Europe and the United States ratcheted up the pressure over Iran’s nuclear ambitions, demanding UN Security Council action and saying two years of delicate negotiations had reached a dead end. Speaking after a crisis meeting in Berlin, the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany called for an emergency meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog to refer the dossier to the world body’s executive. In Washington, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused Tehran of a “deliberate escalation” of the dispute and said it was in “dangerous defiance of the entire international community.” She said the Security Council should “call for the Iranian regime to step away from its nuclear weapons ambitions.” The coordinated statements usher in a period of hectic diplomacy as Europe and the United States seek to build support for some kind of intervention by the Security Council, which alone can impose UN sanctions. UN chief Kofi Annan spoke with Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, but he gave no details of what was said during the 40-minute telephone conversation. It follows a storm of international criticism after Iran broke the seals at three nuclear plants […]