Iran Nuclear NewsBritain: New sanctions on Iran possible

Britain: New sanctions on Iran possible

-

AP: The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council agreed Friday to move toward a third set of sanctions against Iran if the country does not answer key questions on its nuclear program, the British Foreign Office said. The Associated Press

By DAVID STRINGER

LONDON (AP) — The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council agreed Friday to move toward a third set of sanctions against Iran if the country does not answer key questions on its nuclear program, the British Foreign Office said.

The Foreign Office said the U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France agreed, along with Germany, to come up with a new sanctions resolution with the aim of voting on it if November reports by the European Union and the International Atomic Energy Agency did not show improved Iranian cooperation.

Russia and China did not comment, but the agreement would mark a surprising turnaround in the two countries’ strong resistance to fresh sanctions against Iran.

IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei will report to the U.N. on Iran’s nuclear activities in mid-November. EU chief negotiator Javier Solana is also due to submit a report on Iran’s cooperation.

The diplomats who met in London on Friday will hold talks again on Nov. 19 to assess the pending reports, a Foreign Office spokesman said.

He said that the Security Council members and Germany had agreed to “finalize a text for a third U.N. Security Council Sanctions resolution with the intention of bringing it to a vote in the U.N. Security Council unless the November reports of Dr. Solana and Dr. ElBaradei show a positive outcome of the efforts.”

U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns had urged China and Russia to support harsher U.N. sanctions, saying the two nations were key to a diplomatic solution to the standoff.

“The U.S. believes very strongly there is a need to accelerate the diplomacy, to strengthen the sanctions,” Burns told The Associated Press.

“We want a diplomatic solution, we do not want to give up on diplomacy, but we need the help of the P5 (permanent Security Council member) countries to do that, particularly the support of Russia and China.”

The U.S. and its allies accuse Iran of using a civilian power program as cover to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies the charge and insists it needs the technology to generate power.

Britain and France have backed the U.S. call for a resolution on a third round of U.N. Security Council sanctions if Iran continues to refuse to suspend uranium enrichment.

Burns said the U.S. believes China has increased trade with Iran in the last six months, sending the wrong signal about the international community’s attitude toward the nuclear program.

Iran’s former president, Hashemi Rafsanjani, said Friday in Tehran that talks between Iran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog were making progress and he warned the U.S. to avoid resorting to threats.

“The U.S. is making mistakes. Iran is having talks (with the IAEA) and has said it will respond to IAEA questions. They are gradually coming and taking their response. One has to wait, talk and make discussions,” he said.

Rafsanjani also spoke about the prospects of a U.S. attack against Iran, saying it would create a quagmire for Washington with unimaginable consequences.

Burns said participants at Friday’s meeting did not discuss an offer from Saudi officials to create a Middle East consortium of users of enriched uranium.

The proposal by the Arab nations around the Persian Gulf is to build a uranium enrichment plant in a neutral country to supply the region’s states, including Iran, with reactor fuel for nuclear energy programs.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Miliband briefly discussed the proposal with Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, during talks this week, a Foreign Office spokesman said.

Prince Saud told London’s Middle East Economic Digest that the plan had been proposed to Iran’s government, which said it would consider the proposal.

Burns said Washington would look carefully at the offer, but stressed a similar proposal from Russia — to host Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities on its territory to allay Western concerns about monitoring — had been ignored.

Latest news

 Statistics show that New Year accidents’ deaths in Iran reached 585

Ahmad Shirani, the head of the Information and Traffic Control Center of the Iranian regime’s police, announced that the...

Land Subsidence in Critical Conditions in Isfahan

Mehdi Toghyani, a member of the Iranian regime’s Majlis (parliament), pointed to the occurrence of land subsidence in various...

Iran’s Actual Inflation Rate Higher Than Official Stats

The state-run Donya-e-eqtesad newspaper, in a report analyzing the "general sentiment" regarding inflation in 2023, has stated that households...

Iranian Workers’ Monthly $136 Wages Can’t Cover $500 Expenses

The lives of a significant portion of the Iranian population are marked by uncertainty, largely because the Iranian economy...

Iranian Nurses Earn Twice Their Wages in Ride-Hailing Services

Reza Aryanpour, a member of the regime’s Majlis (parliament) Health and Treatment Commission, highlighted the growing trend of nurses...

Iran: Unprecedented Record of 152 Million Liters of Gasoline Consumption Per Day

On March 19, Iran set a new historical record in gasoline consumption with 152 million liters consumed in one...

Must read

New wave of crackdown launched in Iran capital

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Nov. 30 – A new...

Raisi the Ace or the Iranian Supreme Leader’s Last Card?

With Ebrahim Raisi occupying the post of Iran’s presidency,...

You might also likeRELATED
Recommended to you