US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte told reporters he would raise the issue in a bilateral senior-level dialogue to be held in southwest China's Guizhou province Thursday and Friday.
A wide range of other matters would be on the agenda in the US-China talks, including Taiwan, human rights and trade, as well as international issues such as North Korea and Sudan, he told reporters in Beijing.
"We think it is important that there be an additional Security Council resolution because Iran is out of compliance with previously passed resolutions," Negroponte said.
"That is the argument that will be presented to the Chinese authorities."
Negroponte's comments came as Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili arrived in Beijing.
Jalili would exchange ideas with the Chinese about "current events", the Iranian embassy told AFP. He is widely expected to discuss the nuclear issue here.
Although a recently issued US intelligence report said Iran has likely suspended research into designs of a nuclear warhead, Negroponte said it was violating an existing UN resolution by carrying out uranium enrichment.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will further seek Beijing's support for a new resolution when she meets with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in Berlin next week, the US official added.
Rice will join her counterparts from Germany, Britain, France, Russia and China to discuss new sanctions and other elements of a resolution, US officials announced in Washington on Wednesday.
Iran denies charges it is seeking a nuclear weapon, insisting its programme is peaceful and aimed at providing energy for its growing population.
China's former ambassador to Iran, Hua Liming, told the China Daily newspaper it was unlikely that Beijing would support sanctions on Iran, but hinted the Chinese may be willing to back a resolution without sanctions.
"Judging from the consistent position of the Chinese government, it is hard to imagine China will fully satisfy demands from the United States," Hua told the paper.
Negroponte further voiced Washington's opposition to a Taiwanese referendum on the island's participation in the United Nations, calling the vote "provocative."
"From the perspective of the United States the conduct of such a referendum is a mistake," Negroponte told journalists.
"We think it is a provocative policy on the part of the Taiwanese authorities and we think that it certainly would have been preferable had not such a referendum been scheduled."
The ruling Democratic Progressive Party, or DPP, has planned a referendum alongside March presidential polls on joining the United Nations under the name "Taiwan."
China has strongly opposed the referendum as a move that would bring Taiwan closer to formal independence, an act that Beijing has vowed to counter with war.
The DPP is facing growing pressure after suffering a stinging defeat in legislative elections over the weekend.