Some Progress, But No Deal in Latest Iran Talks

U.N. powers yesterday failed to agree to penalize Iran for continuing its nuclear activities, but Russia made some concessions that led France to express confidence that sanctions would be forthcoming, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Dec. 4).

“The question is about the scope of sanctions, but there will be sanctions,” French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said today.

Officials from the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany met in Paris to discuss sanctions proposed by France, Germany and the United Kingdom.  The United States has backed the European draft resolution, but Russia and China have said the proposed measures are too expansive (Angela Charlton, Associated Press/International Herald Tribune, Dec. 6).

“If sanctions are imposed on Iran by the U.N. Security Council, they should be realistic,” Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said today in Athens.  “Otherwise, we might face a risk of losing the possibility for any political or diplomatic solution.”

“We shouldn’t push the situation to a North Korean scenario,” he added (Agence France-Presse, Dec. 6).

The six nations are trying to craft a response to Iran’s refusal to heed a Security Council demand to freeze its uranium enrichment activities (Charlton, Associated Press).

Douste-Blazy said the Security Council leaders need to reach agreement quickly.

“Are we in a hurry or not?” he said today.  “Yes, because I believe, as someone said earlier, that the credibility of the United Nations Security Council is at stake” (Francois Murphy, Reuters, Dec. 6).

Some progress was achieved yesterday, a top European diplomat said, when Russia agreed to allow sanctions barring financial transactions with “problematic” Iranians connected to the nation’s nuclear or missile programs.

Still, a major disagreement persisted over the European proposal to freeze some Iranian assets and to ban international travel by some Iranian officials, according to AP (Charlton, Associated Press).

“The gap between the Russian and U.S. positions is still huge,” said another European diplomat who doubted that any agreement would be reached before the end of the year.

The next step of the process would be for the six nations’ foreign ministers to confer by telephone, said Douste-Blazy, and then the discussion would return to New York, Reuters reported (Murphy, Reuters).

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