New York Times: The United Nations Security Council unanimously agreed Saturday to impose new, more stringent sanctions to press Iran to suspend uranium enrichment and rejoin negotiations over its nuclear program.
Security Council votes to tighten Iran sanctions
Iran to try Britons for espionage
Sunday Times: Fifteen British sailors and marines arrested by Irans Revolutionary Guards off the coast of Iraq may be charged with spying.
Keep up the pressure
Sunday Times – Leading Article: Irans brinkmanship has entered a new and potentially dangerous phase. The 15 Royal Navy personnel captured on Friday were moved to Tehran yesterday, presumably for propaganda purposes. So far, calls for their safe return by Margaret Beckett, the foreign secretary, have fallen on deaf ears, as have her demands for a full explanation from Tehran.
Iran rejects U.N. vote on arms, financial sanctions
Reuters: Iran rejected a repeated demand by the U.N. Security Council to suspend uranium enrichment work after the 15-nation body imposed arms and financial sanctions on Tehran.
UK envoy seeks access to detained sailors in Iran
Reuters: The British envoy to Tehran on Sunday requested access to 15 detained British naval personnel who Iran says entered Iranian waters illegally despite Britain’s insistence they were in Iraqi territory, a diplomat said.
President snubs UN vote on sanctions
Sunday Telegraph: The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, last night snubbed the United Nations Security Council vote on tighter sanctions against his country, accusing the US of making it impossible for him to attend, writes Gethin Chamberlain.
U.N. Council imposes sanctions on Iran
Reuters: The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on Saturday to impose new sanctions on Iran for its nuclear ambitions by targeting Tehran’s arms exports, state-owned bank and elite Revolutionary Guards. Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki immediately rejected the council’s demand to suspend uranium enrichment, which can be used for making bombs and to general electricity.
Key elements of U.N. resolution on Iran
The U.N. Security Council imposed new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, expanding on sanctions approved in December. The key points of the new measures:
– A ban on Iranian arms exports and on any country buying Iranian weapons.
– A call on all nations “to exercise vigilance and restraint” in supplying tanks, combat aircraft and other heavy weapons to Iran.
– An asset freeze on 15 individuals and 13 organizations and companies.
– A call on all governments and financial institutions not to make any new commitments “of grants, financial assistance, or concessional loans” to the Iranian government.
– A call on all countries to exercise “vigilance and restraint” on the entry or transit through their territory of the individuals who provide support or are involved with Iran’s nuclear activities.
– A requirement that all countries report the transit or entry of any of people whose assets have been frozen to the Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against Iran.
Fisherman says saw Britons detained in Iraqi waters
Reuters: An Iraqi fisherman who said he saw Iranian forces detain British sailors and marines on Friday in a waterway between Iraq and Iran said on Saturday the ship British forces were searching was anchored in Iraqi waters.
Security Council unanimously adopts further sanctions on Iran
Iran Focus: London, Mar. 24 The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Saturday imposing further sanctions on Iran over its failure to suspend uranium enrichment activities as the Council and the UN nuclear watchdog had demanded.
