The Times: The White House said yesterday that it was increasingly confident of winning approval for a new round of sanctions against Iran — as a report emerged suggesting that Tehran is building two more atomic enrichment sites. The Times
Tim Reid, Washington
The White House said yesterday that it was increasingly confident of winning approval for a new round of sanctions against Iran — as a report emerged suggesting that Tehran is building two more atomic enrichment sites.
David Axelrod, Mr Obama’s senior adviser, said that the world had united against Iran’s nuclear ambitions and that the White House was pleased with the co-operation that Russia had offered on UN sanctions. The Russian President, Dmitri Medvedev, said on Saturday, however, that while new sanctions could not be excluded, punishing Iran further was not a good idea.
Since Mr Obama revealed evidence in September of a secret Iranian site at Qom he has struggled to win Russian and Chinese support for new sanctions. Their backing is essential because of their position on the UN Security Council.
New suspicions among UN weapons inspectors and intelligence agencies of Iranian plans for two more secret sites were disclosed in The New York Times yesterday. It quoted Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, saying that President Ahmadinejad had ordered work on two plants. “God willing, we may start construction” in the Iranian new year, which began on March 21, he said.
