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West pushes at UN for Iran to halt nuclear efforts
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West pushes at UN for Iran to halt nuclear efforts
The United States, Britain and France pressed ahead with a UN Security Council resolution demanding that Iran curb its nuclear ambitions and said they would push for targeted sanctions it if it does not.
But Russia, which has veto power in the council, made clear it would not support any sanctions but indicated it could back an initial resolution if it were modified. The Western draft did not impose punitive measures.
In Washington, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country helped draft the measure, said she still hoped for a diplomatic resolution but did not spell out new steps.
“We are in total agreement saying that under no circumstances must Iran be allowed to come into possession of nuclear weapons,” Merkel said.
Still, there have been calls in Germany and in the United States Congress for the Bush administration to engage in direct talks with Iran on its nuclear programs, which US officials so far have rejected.
Iran maintains its activities are legal and peaceful. It recently even accelerated its pace of uranium enrichment but remains far below levels needed to make an atomic bomb.
One key provision in the legally binding resolution demands that Iran suspend enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including research and development as well construction of a heavy-water nuclear reactor.
Iran since 2004 has been building a heavy water reactor at Arak, 120 miles (193 km) southwest of Tehran, which experts say raises concerns because it could produce bomb-grade plutonium.
The draft resolution warned that the Security Council would “consider such further measures as may be necessary to ensure compliance with this resolution”, although “further examination will be required should such additional steps be necessary.”
It also urges but does not demand that countries “exercise vigilance in preventing the transfer of items, materials, goods and technology” that could contribute to “enrichment-related and reprocessing activities and missile programs”.
Russia, China reluctant</B>
Such measures are part of the USproposals for future sanctions and bound to be rejected by Russia, the only major power still engaged in lucrative nuclear cooperation with Iran.
Shortly after the text was distributed to the 15 council members, China’s UN Ambassador Wang Guangya said, “I don’t think this draft as it stands now will produce good results. I think it is tougher than expected.”
But Russia’s new UN Ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, said he hoped for a vote before foreign ministers of the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany meet in New York on Monday and Tuesday.
Asked if he were able to approve the new resolution, he told reporters, “of course” providing some changes were made. On sanctions, Churkin repeated Moscow’s position. “We are very skeptical about sanctions. We think historically they have not been very useful,” he said.
The resolution is under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which makes it mandatory under international law. It gives Iran another chance to comply prior to a deadline that has not yet been decided but diplomats hoped it would be in early June.
A Chapter 7 resolution allows sanctions or even war but a separate resolution is required to specify either step. Churkin would not answer when asked if Moscow would allow a Chapter 7 resolution. But France’s U.N. ambassador, Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, said, “We are used to negotiations and we know it is probably possible.” “The fundamental point is for Russia and China to agree that this a threat to international peace and security under Chapter 7,” US Ambassador John Bolton said.
“If they are prepared to accept that, which I see as central to the resolution, we will see what else is possible.”
The Security Council in late March issued a nonbinding statement asking Iran to abandon uranium enrichment, a process than can lead to a nuclear weapon or generate electricity.
The Council asked for a report within 30 days from Mohammed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, who said last Friday that Iran had not not complied.
Iranian officials argue that the IAEA, the UN nuclear watchdog, has not found a weapons program after three years of scrutiny. They note the agency does not consider Iran’s program an imminent security threat. “We will not give up our legitimate right (to nuclear technology) because of America’s bullying and pressure,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said, according to Iran’s state television on Wednesday.
<B>Evelyn LEOPOLD</B>
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