AFP: France said Friday that some UN Security Council members were asking for more time to consider additional sanctions on Iran over its controversial nuclear program. WASHINGTON (AFP) France said Friday that some UN Security Council members were asking for more time to consider additional sanctions on Iran over its controversial nuclear program.
Without naming the countries, French envoy to Washington Pierre Vimont said a “few” members wanted to wait for Iran to clear up questions over its nuclear program with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog.
In addition, he said, it would take “some time” to get an agreement from some of the council’s non-permanent members on the proposed third set of sanctions over Tehran’s refusal to halt uranium enrichment.
The Security Council on Monday held informal talks on a third sanctions resolution, a draft of which was agreed by the five veto-wielding permanent members — Britain, China, France, Russia and United States — plus Germany.
The proposed new measures include an outright travel ban on officials involved in Tehran’s nuclear and missile programs and inspections of shipments to and from Iran if there are suspicions of prohibited goods.
The package would form the basis of a third set of economic and trade sanctions against Iran for defying Security Council demands to stop uranium enrichment activities that the West fears could be used to make a nuclear bomb.
“Some of the members of the Security Council would like to wait to see how the present contacts taking place between Mr (IAEA chief Mohamed) ElBaradei and the Iranian authorities go and how far he will reach a satisfactory agreement on his action regarding the controls he has been asking for,” Vimont told a forum of the Middle East Institute in Washington.
He also said, “Not only that we have to get an agreement from the Russians and the Chinese but now we also have to get an agreement among some of the non-permanent members in the Security Council and this may take some time.”
The French envoy singled out “new” non-permanent members, saying, “we want to reach consensus among those and there is more work to be done.”
The non-permanent members elected to the council in January were Libya, Vietnam, Burkina Faso, Costa Rica and Croatia.
