UNSC seals new Iran sanctions deal

Resolution restates earlier votes against Teheran; Israeli officials lukewarm about new move.

By AP, ALLISON HOFFMAN, JPOST CORRESPONDENT , NEW YORK
Bushehr 224.88 (photo credit: AP)
Bushehr 224.88
(photo credit: AP)
The UN Security Council reached agreement Saturday on a resolution that would reaffirm previous sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt its uranium enrichment program, council diplomats said. The council scheduled a meeting for late Saturday afternoon to vote on the resolution that also reaffirms incentives if Teheran ceases its enrichment program. The US and Russia reached a compromise on Friday to lead a new council effort to condemn Iran's nuclear program, without introducing any new sanctions. Israeli officials were lukewarm about the new move, saying that it reinforced the need for action outside the UN to make sure Iran doesn't obtain nuclear weapons - as well as the need to call Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to account for the fierce anti-Israeli rhetoric he offered at this week's UN General Assembly. "The sanctions, nothing is tough enough to confront the anti-Semitic and terrible words that were spoken at the UN, which should be a place of peace and security," said Gabriela Shalev, Israel's new UN ambassador. The brief resolution restates the three earlier Security Council votes against Teheran. These imposed progressively tougher sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt its uranium enrichment program. Security council members said they hoped to adopt the resolution later in the day or on Monday at the latest. Even envoys from countries that abstained in votes on the past resolutions indicated that they would go along with the current draft. "Once a resolution is adopted by the Security Council, it is incumbent upon member states to comply with it," said Indonesia's UN Ambassador Marty Natalegawa. He said Indonesia would reaffirm the need to comply with past measures against Iran, although Jakarta did not support them at the time. Existing sanctions include an asset freeze on 65 companies and individuals linked to Iran's nuclear program, and a travel ban on five people. The sanctions also include bans on Iranian arms exports, supplying Iran with materials and technology that could contribute to its nuclear and missile programs, and on trade in goods that have both civilian and military uses. The current draft also calls on Teheran "to fully comply, without delay, with its obligations" and meet the requirements of the UN's nuclear watchdog agency. In Teheran, Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said in remarks carried by state television Saturday that the new resolution would cause "mistrust" and would not help global peace and security. Iran insists its nuclear program is purely peaceful and designed to produce nuclear energy, but the US and Europeans suspect Teheran is pursuing nuclear weapons. The council consulted privately for more than an hour Friday afternoon and agreed to hold further talks on the proposal. It also was briefly discussed at a private meeting on Friday of foreign ministers with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari. Participants said the new resolution has the agreement of ministers from the six key players in negotiations on Iran's nuclear program - Russia, the US, Britain, France, China and Germany. The United States, Britain and France have been pressing for a new round of sanctions to step up pressure against Iran for its continuing refusal to suspend uranium enrichment as a prelude to talks on its nuclear program. But Russia and China objected to new sanctions. The proposed new resolution is a compromise - no new sanctions but a tough statement to Iran that Security Council resolutions must be carried out. Earlier this week, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused "a few bullying powers" of trying to thwart the country's legitinate nuclear program. Ahmadinejad said that Teheran needs the ability to produce nuclear fuel because it cannot rely on other nations to supply enriched uranium to the Islamic regime's planned reactors. Enrichment can turn uranium into the fissile material used in nuclear warheads. But it can also be used to generate power and is allowed under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.