www.nytimes.com/2006/07/12/world/12cnd-diplo.html
United Nations Security Council resolution ordering Iran to freeze its nuclear activities or face sanctions. The movement toward a resolution reflects increased anger over Irans refusal to respond to an international offer of economic and energy incentives in exchange for halting its enrichment of uranium, a step involved in building nuclear weapons.
For the past five weeks, the biggest question hanging over the package of incentives presented to Iran has been whether the fragile coalition of six countries making the offer would have the stomach to pursue sanctions if Iran refused. After a two-and-a-half hour meeting at the ornate Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris, the answer to that question seemed clear for now, at least. The Iranians have given no indication at all that they are ready to engage seriously on the substance of our proposals, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said in a tersely-worded statement on behalf of the group, which also includes Germany and Britain. The group agreed to seek a Security Council resolution that would make suspension of Irans uranium enrichment mandatory. Should Iran refuse to comply, Mr Douste-Blazy said, then we will work for the adoption of measures under an article of the United Nations Charter that allows for punitive sanctions.
Condoleezza Rices gamble that she could get China and Russia to support sanctions if the United States first made Iran a strong offer of incentives. American and European officials said that Iran, in refusing to either accept or reject the offer quickly, may have miscalculated its support from Russia and China. This is a significant decision that, frankly, reflects the disappointment and frustration of our countries by the lack of a serious response from the Iranian government, said Nicholas Burns, the American undersecretary of state for political affairs. Iran has given us no choice but to move back to the Security Council, where we intend to make their suspension mandatory. That said, it is far from certain whether the six-country coalition the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany will remain unified if the time comes to actually impose sanctions.
Group of Eight major industrial nations is due to hold a summit meeting this weekend in St. This is the first time Russia has been host to such a summit meeting, and Moscow wants it to be a success, unblemished by a failure of the major powers to agree on how to handle Irans nuclear ambitions. Once the meeting is over, that leverage over Moscow will be gone. But a senior American official, speaking on condition of anonymity under diplomatic rules, said that officials plan to meet at the United Nations next week to draft a resolution ordering Iran to suspend its enrichment activities, including turning off its fast-spinning centrifuge machines. The senior American official said that Iran would be given a number of days to comply, but he would not say specifically whether those days could be allowed to stretch into weeks or months. The six-nation group said in its statement that action by the Security Council could be called off at any stage if Iran suspends its uranium enrichment. The United States has said that a suspension is a necessary precondition for direct high-level negotiations with Iranian officials, which it has not held in more than 25 years. The group of countries has agreed on a list of possible sanctions to choose from in punishing Iran, but have not yet made a choice. The list includes travel restrictions for Iranian officials, a ban on cultural exchanges and visas for Iranians, financial restrictions, political sanctions and even an oil embargo, although that is seen as highly improbable, in part because of the risk of rattling the already jittery global oil markets.
Iran has repeatedly said that it will not respond to the offer before August. It was unclear yesterday whether the group would try to impose sanctions by then. Diplomats said todays meeting included the usual bickering between Ms Rice and her Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov. There was quick agreement on the text of a statement to be issued by political deputies of the foreign ministers, but Mr Lavrov and Ms Rice, much as they did two weeks ago in Moscow, sniped at each other over certain other points, including the tactics and timing of action by the Security Council. We had to take into account Russian concerns that we not take steps that would lead Iran to overshadow the G-8, one European official said. Russian officials were also concerned that any resolution not open the door for eventual military action against Iran.
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