"We must remain firm," Germany's Frank-Walter Steinmeier told journalists as he arrived at the International Atomic Energy Agency for talks with its director general Mohammed ElBaradei.

"The international community cannot and will not allow nuclear weapons technology to be developed in the region," Steinmeier said.

The German minister met ElBaradei after already meeting his Austrian counterpart Ursula Plassnik at the Austrian foreign ministry.

Plassnik similarly insisted that "the international community is resolutely against nuclear weapons in Iran."

And "we will maintain our resolve in future," she promised. "It's now up to Iran to build up confidence. We therefore expect to see the Iranian government take some decisive steps in the coming weeks."

Steinmeier's one-day trip to Vienna was to prepare for a meeting of the so-called P5+1 nations in Berlin next Tuesday to discuss a possible new round of sanctions against Iran.

The P5+1 nations include the five members of the UN Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany.

"We'll be meeting with the permanent members of the UN Security Council in a few days," Steinmeier said.

"We will discuss how the resolve that the international community has demonstrated in the past on this matter can continue to be shown in the future," he continued.

And "it's important for us to learn how (IAEA chief ElBaradei) views the situation, and how, after his talks in Tehran, he views the possibilities of reaching a solution," Steinmeier said.

ElBaradei visited Tehran last week, where he met Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. At the end of the two-day trip, the IAEA and Iran agreed that Tehran should clear up all outstanding issues about its controversial atomic drive within four weeks.

Steinmeier said that the Iran nuclear dossier would remain open, even after a US intelligence report suggested that Tehran had indeed had a nuclear weapons programme but had abandoned it in 2003.

"The conflict over Iran's atomic programme is going to remain on the agenda in 2008," he said.

"Open questions still remain which Iran will have to answer to restore lost confidence," the minister said.

"It is of course important what the US intelligence report said. But it also said that the problem hasn't been solved," Steinmeier said.

The talks with ElBaradei lasted about an hour and Steinmeier left the IAEA's headquarters afterwards without speaking to journalists again.

ElBaradei also declined to comment on the meeting when quizzed by journalists afterwards.