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U.N. Security Council Powers at Impasse on Iran
The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council continue to debate the best way to persuade Iran to ease international suspicions over its nuclear activities, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, March 13). A Security Council diplomat said representatives from all council members are scheduled to meet this afternoon at the French mission to the United Nations, the Washington Post reported (Colum Lynch, Washington Post, March 14). The United Kingdom may try to force a vote on a resolution calling for Iran to freeze uranium enrichment, the Times of London reported today. British officials planned to turn to the full 15-member Security Council after the permanent members failed to agree on a resolution, the London Times reported. The draft resolution by Paris and London calls for a deadline as short as 14 days for Iran to suspend enrichment, according to the Times. “We are trying to hold the [permanent members] together first, but reality is reality and time is an important factor,” said U.S. Ambassador John Bolton. The five powers also disagree as to whether the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency should report on Iran’s compliance to the Security Council or to the agency’s governing board after the deadline passes, according to the Times (Bone/Baldwin, The Times, March 14). Washington anticipates that the Security Council will take up the issue this week, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday. “Our focus is on, as a first step, looking at a strong presidential statement, spelling out very clearly what the regime in Iran needs to do and what the international community expects the regime to do,” said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. “We are all working together to move forward in a diplomatic way to resolve the matter,” he said. The State Department said the statement would be a “starting point” for an enrichment freeze by Iran. “As an initial starting point we would like to see a presidential statement that will reaffirm the decision made by the IAEA and call on Iran to make the necessary steps,” said department spokesman Tom Casey (Agence France-Presse I, March 13). Meanwhile, U.S. President George W. Bush yesterday renewed sanctions prohibiting U.S. entities from making oil deals with Iran for one year, AFP reported. The decision maintains sanctions enacted by President Bill Clinton in 1995, according to AFP (Agence France-Presse II/Yahoo!News, March 13). Iran announced today that it has resumed nuclear negotiations with Russia. “The Iranian delegation headed by Ali Hosseini-Tash held a first round of negotiations with the Russians yesterday,” Supreme National Security Council spokesman Hossein Entezami said today. “Within the framework of the IAEA and the [Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty], we will pursue our consultations and talks with different countries,” he said (Agence France-Presse II/Yahoo!News, March 14). State Department spokesman Casey expressed skepticism that Iran would make a good-faith effort in the talks. “If they (Iranians) want to return to the negotiating table and work at a real deal with the Russians without the delaying tactics we have seen, it would be wonderful,” he said. “But we have no indication that Iran is prepared to accept the Russian proposal” (AFP I, March 13). Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran would now bow to pressure from the Security Council, AP reported today. “Rest assured that the technology to produce nuclear fuel today is in the hands of the youth of this land and no power can take it back from us,” Ahmadinejad said during a speech in northern Iran. “Today, unfortunately, [a] few big powers want, through coercion and bullying, [to] prevent progress of nations. ... They are really angry that this great nation (Iran) is gaining access to the peaks of progress and development,” he said (Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press II/Yahoo!News, March 14). Iran for the first time appear to believe that talks with Washington could be in its best interest, the Los Angeles Times reported today. Mehdi Karroubi, a former Iranian parliament speaker, said Tehran’s past decisions to curtail relations with Washington were not meant to last forever. “The break in relations is not forever and not for eternity,” he said. “We only need a pioneer, someone to take the first step.” Iran’s growing influence in Iraq and Afghanistan would allow it to engage the United States on a more equal footing, said Amir Mohebian, editor of the hard-line newspaper Resalat. “Both sides have demands,” he said. “For a fundamental resolution of the problem, the U.S. should engage, and other issues should be on the table.” One option for engagement would be a forum based on six-nation nuclear talks with North Korea, third-party diplomats have said. “Then the U.S. can say it’s multilateral, but when they are all in the room, there will be an opportunity to talk,” one diplomat said. However, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said that channels exist for only limited bilateral talks. Rice mentioned the U.S. envoys to Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York. “I think that that is the appropriate level of engagement given our deep concerns about Iranian policy on the nuclear issue, on the terrorism issue and indeed in terms of the Iranian regime's treatment of its own people,” she said. U.N. envoy Bolton was more dismissive. “I don’t think we have anything to say to the Iranians,” he said yesterday (Daniszewski/Rubin, Los Angeles Times, March 14).
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