Security Council Needs More Time for Iran Sanctions

The U.N. Security Council failed to agree yesterday to impose new economic sanctions against Iran for its refusal to freeze its nuclear program, Reuters reported (see GSN, March 19).

Backers of a draft resolution had hoped for a council vote this week, but that target is becoming less likely, said council president Dumisani Kumalo, South Africa’s ambassador.

The current proposal was negotiated by the five permanent council members and Germany who circulated the draft to the rest of the council late last week.

South Africa has since proposed major revisions to the resolution, while Qatar and Indonesia have offered lesser amendments, according to Reuters.

The draft resolution would expand sanctions set in December by prohibiting nuclear and missile trade with Iran, freezing the assets of a larger list of Iranian officials and firms, prohibiting U.N. nations from buying Iranian weapons, and discouraging nations from allowing certain Iranian officials to travel within their borders.

The draft was prepared after Iran ignored a 60-day deadline, set in December, to freeze its uranium enrichment program.  The draft resolution would give Iran another 60 days to freeze its sensitive activities.

The South African revision would eliminate the asset-freeze provisions and the arms embargo, Reuters reported, with the nation arguing that those measures were not directed toward the nuclear program and were therefore inappropriate (Reuters I/New York Times, March 21).

South Africa has also proposed a 90-day time out in the crisis, offering to suspend all U.N. sanctions if Iran simultaneously halts its sensitive nuclear projects.

Most of the draft resolution’s backers spoke out vehemently against the South African amendments yesterday following a council meeting.

“We think it would be perverse in response to that situation to say, ‘Oh, by the way, we now lift the obligations which are currently applied to Iran.’  It would be totally perverse,” said British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry.

“In order to have Iran responding,” said French Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere, “you have to increase pressure.  Decreasing pressure won't do the job.  We think that increasing the pressure is the right thing to do.”

De La Sabliere added that he thought “a large majority” of council members supported the current draft, but the resolution backers were willing to keep talking if such discussions would lead to a consensus decision.

“I think we will be in a position to make some concrete proposals and changes in order to reach a unanimous Security Council,” de La Sabliere said of the next council meeting, scheduled for today (Edith Lederer, Associated Press I/International Herald Tribune, March 22).

The Qatari and Indonesian amendments sought to introduce language into the resolution that would call for a WMD-free zone in the Middle East, AP reported (Edith Lederer, Associated Press II, March 21).

Meanwhile, Switzerland has been quietly pursuing an additional diplomatic track to seek a resolution to the nuclear crisis, Reuters reported yesterday.  Iranian and Swiss officials, including Swiss Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Ambuehl, have exchanged visits in recent weeks.

“The purpose of (Ambuehl's) visit was to promote a Swiss initiative to reach a compromise with Iran over its nuclear file and resume talks on nuclear-related issues,” according to a one-page report about the trip given to Reuters by a Western diplomat.

The Swiss plan seeks some middle ground from a Western offer to sit down for talks with Iran only after Tehran freezes its nuclear program.

The Swiss recommendation encourages the talks to proceed without a total freeze by allowing Iran to develop and test its uranium enrichment centrifuges without using any uranium, according to Reuters.

The diplomatic initiative has not received U.S. or European support.

“Trying to establish a second track is not an approach we wish to take,” said one U.S. official (Louis Charbonneau, Reuters II/Yahoo!News, March 21).

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