Obama wants new Iran sanctions within weeks

US President Barack Obama said he hoped to impose new international nuclear sanctions on Iran within "weeks" but admitted Washington did "not yet" have global agreement to do so.

"My hope is that we are going to get this done this spring," Obama said, adding that he was not interested in waiting months for the new set of United Nations measures to be imposed on Tehran.

"I am interested in seeing that regime in place within weeks," Obama said, during a joint press conference with visiting French President Nicolas Sarkozy.