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Time May Be Ripe For UN Security Council Vote On Iran Says US
Washington (AFP) Dec 06, 2006 The United States said Wednesday that the time may have come for the UN Security Council to vote on a resolution punishing Iran over its sensitive nuclear program. The assessment came after six major powers failed at a meeting in Paris Wednesday to reach agreement on what sanctions to impose on Iran for failing to suspend uranium enrichment, which can fuel a nuclear reactor or be used to make an atomic bomb. "We hope that we can come to a consensus resolution but I think the feeling was it was now time to move on to New York (to the UN Security Council)," US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters. He did not give any specific timelines but a senior State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said "We are getting to the point where we will need to raise our hands one way or another." Political directors from Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, the council's permanent members, and Germany met in Paris late Wednesday to talk about what action to take against Iran, which defied a UN deadline of August 31 to cease enriching uranium. They are agreed that there will be sanctions against Iran, though their extent is yet to be decided, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said after the talks. Diplomats said the meeting failed to reach agreement among the six countries on what sanctions should be applied. Russia and China -- which have strong economic interests in Iran -- have tried to water down a draft Security Council resolution drawn up by France, Britain and Germany, while the United States has sought to harden it. The European draft would bar trade with Iran in goods related to its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and impose financial and travel restrictions on persons and agencies involved. Several of the countries, especially the United States, fear that despite Iran's insistence that it is pursuing civilian nuclear energy ambitions, the program is in fact designed to build a nuclear arsenal. McCormack said that any Security Council resolution tabled "is going to be a strong one and we expect that we will get a resolution." According to diplomats in Paris, Russia is willing to back the trade ban against Iran, but remains opposed to sanctions being applied to individuals, though it will accept a ban on shipments of sensitive goods. Tehran has warned it would regard any attempt to thwart its nuclear program as an "act of hostility". Douste-Blazy said France was "in a hurry" to see sanctions imposed. "I think this is about the credibility of the United Nations Security Council," he said.
earlier related report He said the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany "agree on one thing: that there will be a United Nations Security Council resolution backed by all, including China and Russia. Political directors from Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States met in the French capital late Wednesday to talk about what action to take against Iran, which defied a UN deadline of August 31 to cease enriching uranium. Several of the countries, especially the United States, fear that despite Iran's insistence that it is pursuing civilian nuclear energy ambitions, the programme is in fact designed to build a nuclear arsenal. Diplomats said the Paris meeting failed to reach agreement among the six countries on what sanctions should be applied. Russia and China -- which have strong economic interests in Iran -- have tried to water down a draft UN Security Council resolution drawn up by France, Britain and Germany, while the United States has sought to harden it. The European draft would bar trade with Iran in goods related to its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and impose financial and travel restrictions on persons and agencies involved. According to diplomats in Paris, Russia -- though willing to back the trade ban -- is still opposed to sanctions being applied to individuals, though it will accept a ban on shipments of sensitive goods. Tehran has warned it would regard any attempt to thwart its nuclear programme as an "act of hostility". Douste-Blazy, at a joint media conference with his Israeli counterpart Tzipi Livni, said France was "in a hurry" to see sanctions imposed. "I think this is about the credibility of the United Nations Security Council," he said. "To my mind, we are going to find a joint solution to be united behind a resolution," he said, adding that he would soon be speaking by telephone with the foreign ministers of the five other countries involved. Livni, whose country is especially alarmed over Iran's nuclear ambitions and its expressed wish to see Israel one day wiped off the map, said decisions had to be made quickly, "because the Iranians are trying to stall" to win time to master the nuclear processes underway. President Jacques Chirac, who also received Livni, reinforced Douste-Blazy's message by insisting on the "importance of solidarity in the international community on this issue concerning Iran," his spokesman said.
earlier related report Six-nation negotiations between North Korea and the United States, China, South Korea, Russia and Japan, have been stalled since November 2005 over North Korean objections to US financial sanctions. "If sanctions are imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council, they should be realistic ... and not without a time limit," Ivanov said. "Otherwise, we might face a risk of losing the possibility for any political or diplomatic solution," he told a news conference. Earlier on Wednesday, the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany agreed on the need for sanctions against Iran after a Paris meeting on Tehran's nuclear programme, though their extent is yet to be decided. Several of the countries, especially the United States, fear that despite Iran's insistence that it is pursuing civilian nuclear energy ambitions, the programme is in fact designed to build a nuclear arsenal. Russia and China -- which have strong economic interests in Iran -- have tried to water down a draft UN Security Council resolution drawn up by France, Britain and Germany, while the United States has sought to harden it. The European draft would bar trade with Iran in goods related to its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes and impose financial and travel restrictions on persons and agencies involved.
Source: Agence France-Presse Related Links UN Security Council 
Gates And Iran
Washington (UPI) Dec 06, 2006Robert Gates, the presumptive new U.S. defense secretary, warned against taking military action against Iran and Syria Tuesday. "I think that we have seen in Iraq that once war is unleashed, it becomes unpredictable. And I think that the consequences of a conflict -- a military conflict with Iran could be quite dramatic. |
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"They are angry with our nation. But we tell them 'so be it and die from this anger'. Rest assured that if you do not respond to the divine call, you will die soon and vanish from the face of the earth," he said. The outspoken president also maintained Iran's defiance over its controversial nuclear programme, saying it was on course to fully master nuclear technology.