U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela and Iran Elliott Abrams said Washington could deny access to the U.S. market to anyone who trades in weapons with Iran, which President Donald Trump's administration accuses of seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

Last week, the U.S. lost its long-shot bid to indefinitely extend an international arms embargo on Iran and has now moved to a new diplomatic line of attack.

A new, much shorter draft of the resolution circulated by the U.S. states that the arms embargo ``shall continue to apply until the Security Council decides otherwise.''