Foreign ministers from the Group of Eight industrialized nations have renewed calls for Iran to stop nuclear enrichment activities or face "appropriate measures."

The G8 foreign ministers of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States Wednesday admonished Iran for ignoring the United Nations deadline to stop the sensitive nuclear work.

They also expressed deep regret over recent findings by the International Atomic Energy Agency that Iran has expanded enrichment activities.

Ali Larijani talks to the media after arriving at Madrid's Barajas airport, 30 May 2007

Earlier Wednesday, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, said suspending enrichment is not the way to resolve Iran's nuclear standoff with the West.  He meets in Spain Thursday with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana for talks on the issue.

Tehran has continued to defy international demands to stop enriching uranium - a process that can produce material suitable for building nuclear weapons.

Iran is under limited U.N. sanctions for failing to meet earlier Security Council resolutions.

The United States and its allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons.  Tehran maintains that the program is for peaceful, civilian use.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.