Wiesbaden, Germany  - Six of the world's major powers on Wednesday reaffirmed their commitment to diplomatically resolve the dispute over Iran's nuclear activities while welcoming US President Barack Obama's willingness to widen dialogue with Tehran.

Senior diplomats from Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States met in the German city of Wiesbaden for the first time since Obama took office January 20. The six countries are leading the international effort to ensure Iran is not seeking a nuclear weapons capability.

The United States along with Britain and France suspect Iran is pursuing the ability to produce nuclear weapons, while Tehran maintains its ambitions are solely for civilian atomic energy. Obama has said he is open to diplomatically engaging Iran, but will not outline a policy until an ongoing review is completed.

The six countries also urged Iran to come clean about its nuclear activities with a UN oversight body known as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Iran has rebuffed UN Security Council resolutions calling on it to suspend uranium enrichment, prompting the council to enact limited sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

The five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany met two days after Iran for the first time launched a domestically produced satellite into space, raising fears Iran could master ballistic missile technology for delivering a nuclear warhead.

Iran has not accepted diplomatic and economic incentives offered by the six nations in return for a halt to the uranium enrichment programme. A German foreign ministry spokesman said Wednesday's talks were intended to demonstrate the unity of the six powers in their approach to Iran.

William Burns, the US undersecretary of state, did not provide details to reporters on any possible changes in the US approach to Iran's nuclear activities. No date was set for another meeting.

US State Department spokesman Robert Wood told reporters in Washington that there will not be another meeting until the new administration completed its policy review, but that the countries would remain in contact over the telephone. dpa