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UNITED NATIONS: Envoys of six major powers met Monday
to consider a new set of sanctions designed to coax Iran into
suspending uranium enrichment.
Diplomats from the Security
Council’s five permanent members—Britain, China, France, Russia
and the United States—plus Germany met for 90 minutes at
Britain’s UN mission in New York to discuss elements of a new
draft resolution that would tighten sanctions adopted by the council
last December.
The elements were discussed by
senior officials of the six powers during a telephone conversation
Saturday.
Both Chinese Ambassador Wang
Guangya and his Russian counterpart Vitaly Churkin said the proposed
new draft would give Iran 60 days to comply with UN demands that it
freeze sensitive nuclear fuel work or face more sanctions.
“There are many things in
common, but there are some differences,” Wang told reporters after
the meeting. “We want to expand [Security Council resolution 1737
adopted in December] in an incremental, proportional way.”
“We are discussing elements
that build on 1737,” said US acting ambassador Alejandro Wolff who
also expressed hope an acceptable draft will emerge “soon.”
The December sanctions were
imposed on Tehran for spurning UN demands that it suspend uranium
enrichment seen as a possible pathway to a nuclear bomb.
They were agreed only after
months of tense negotiations, with Russia in particular resisting US
pressure for tougher action.
They included a ban on the sale
of nuclear and ballistic missile-related materials to the Islamic
Republic and a freeze on financial assets of Iranians involved in
illicit atomic and missile research.
Wang said the six envoys would
continue their discussions Tuesday afternoon.
Churkin meanwhile said the 10
nonpermanent members of the council would be briefed tomorrow on
“the drift of our discussions.”
“We’ll keep them posted as we
proceed,” he noted, adding that “there is a very good chance”
that the proposed resolution would be adopted this month.
German Ambassador Thomas Matussek
said under consideration were a travel ban on Iranian officials
involved in banned nuclear and missile programs, expansion of the
assets freeze targeting those officials and of the list of items
Iran is banned from importing or exporting.
“The slogan we use for this one
[round of bargaining] is ‘swift and modest,’” he added.
--AFP
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