BRITAIN has not ruled out military action against Iran in the long term, failing progress on the country's controversial nuclear program, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said today.

Asked whether military action was possible, Hague said: "We are not considering that at the moment. We are not calling or advocating military action. At the same time we say all options should remain in future."

Hague, who spoke to reporters as he stepped into talks between European Union foreign ministers, said: "Of course we will also look over the coming months to increase the peaceful legitimate pressure on Iran as part of our dual track approach of being available for negotiations, if they're real negotiations, but at the same time placing more pressure on Iran through sanctions."

The 27 ministers will discuss the possibility of new sanctions on Iran if there is no progress in Tehran's cooperation with nuclear watchdog IAEA or in talks with world powers, diplomats said.

"Strong new restrictive measures" would be decided at a new meeting in a couple of weeks should Iran dig in its heels, they said.

However, Germany has ruled out military intervention in Iran, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said.

"We are not taking part in the discussion on military intervention," Westerwelle said on arriving in Brussels for EU foreign ministers' talks.

"We believe such discussions are counter-productive and reject them."