Iran Sanctions Seen by Christmas, Diplomat Says

Leading U.N. nations were unlikely to reach agreement today on imposing sanctions against Iran, but a diplomat said they hoped to finish before Christmas, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Dec. 14).

Top U.N. representatives from the five permanent Security Council members and Germany were set to meet again today to find common ground on a proposed resolution to reply to Iran’s refusal to curb its nuclear activities.

“My goal is to complete the negotiations before Christmas,” said French Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere.  “We can do it.”

Still, “it will take probably some more days to finalize the text,” he added.

Diplomats continue to disagree on a proposed measure to ban the international travel of 12 Iranian officials involved in nuclear and missile activities, according to AFP.  The United States strongly supports the provision.

“We just don’t think it belongs,” said Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin (Agence France-Presse I/Yahoo!News, Dec. 14).

Iran warned again today that it could reduce its cooperation with international nuclear inspectors if the Security Council were to act against Tehran (see GSN, Sept. 18).

“The approval of a sanctions resolution at the U.N. Security Council will only prepare the conditions for the Islamic republic to restrict inspections as a natural reaction,” said Alaedin Boroujerdi, head of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee (Agence France-Presse II/Khaleej Times, Dec. 15).

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