U.N. Powers to Discuss Iran Nuclear Sanctions

Representatives from the five permanent U.N. Security Council member nations and Germany are expected to meet in London this week to consider imposing new penalties on Iran over its disputed nuclear program, Reuters reported (see GSN, Oct. 30).

The powers plan to review a possible third round of Security Council sanctions against Iran over its refusal to halt its uranium enrichment, which could yield a nuclear weapon ingredient.

The meeting is planned for tomorrow or Friday.  Talks between China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States were originally planned to take place two weeks ago, but China withdrew to protest the United States awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to the Dalai Lama.

Veto-holding Security Council members Beijing and Moscow have indicated they would not support another round of sanctions on Tehran (Fredrik Dahl, Reuters/Washington Post, Oct. 31).

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday in Tehran that independent sanctions on Iran would not help address the standoff over its nuclear program, the Associated Press reported.

“Unilateral actions taken now regarding trade and economic sanctions against Iran won't help to continue collective efforts,” he said, presumably referring to a new round of sanctions on Iran that the United Sates announced last week (see GSN, Oct. 25).

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed the measures as empty gestures, saying they served as proof that “Americans are not able to harm us.”

“Americans think that they can force the Iranian nation to give in by resorting to unilateral economic sanctions,” Iranian state media quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.  “Enemies have understood that they are not able to thwart the progress of the Iranian nation” (Nasser Karimi, Associated Press/International Herald Tribune, Oct. 30).

China yesterday rebuffed a request by visiting Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to support a new resolution, Agence France-Presse reported.

“We consider that the decision to impose sanctions should not be made lightly.  At present, the Iranian side is seeking to solve the issue through talks,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao.

“Under the current circumstances we do not support further sanctions, as that would worsen the situation,” he said (Agence France-Presse I/Google News, Oct. 30).

Meanwhile, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino reaffirmed the Bush administration’s public stand that it is not planning to attack Iran, AFP reported.  Her comments come amidst escalating rhetoric from Washington on the nuclear standoff (see GSN, Oct. 18 and Oct. 22).

“There's no reason for people to think that the president is about to attack Iran.  I think that we need to make that clear,” she said.  “He doesn't want people to fear that, because what he is doing is pursuing a diplomatic track.”

Perino said the president’s planned meetings next week with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were evidence that the White House hopes to peacefully defuse the West’s standoff with Iran.

“He believes it's important for him to pursue every possible diplomatic means in order to persuade Iran to stop its pursuit of a nuclear weapon,” Perino said.  Iran has maintained that its nuclear program is intended solely for peaceful purposes.

When asked if she was certain that the Bush administration was not plotting an imminent attack on Iran, she said, “I'm positive of that, and we're pursuing the diplomatic track” (Agence France-Presse II/Google News, Oct. 30).

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