Reuters: Referring Iran to the United Nations Security Council over concerns about its nuclear plans will not automatically lead to economic sanctions, a senior British official said on Tuesday. LONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) – Referring Iran to the United Nations Security Council over concerns about its nuclear plans will not automatically lead to economic sanctions, a senior British official said on Tuesday.
“We don’t see this leading straight into sanctions,” the foreign ministry official told reporters under condition he not be named. “We want to build gradual, sustained pressure over time. We are not going to New York to impose punitive economic sanctions.”
He said U.N. Security Council veto-wielding members Russia and China had not yet decided whether to back a proposal to refer Iran’s case to the council.
But he expected the board of the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, would back the referral proposal by a majority vote, though not by unanimous consent.
He dismissed reports that Iran had invited Britain, France and Germany to resume talks, adding that the EU trio had cancelled a meeting with Iranian officials planned for Wednesday.
“That is vacuous, because the Iranians have created the conditions to make (further talks) impossible,” he said.
Military action against Iran was not on the agenda, he added.
