Agence France presse – Envoys of six major powers on Thursday again reviewed proposed UN sanctions against Iran over its failure to halt its uranium enrichment program, and agreed to meet again next Monday.
Ambassadors of the Security Council’s five permanent members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — plus Germany held their second informal session in two days at France’s UN mission in New York.
"We talked about a variety of the issues, the scope of the sanctions," US Ambassador John Bolton told reporters after the meeting. "I do think we made progress. We will now have a chance to consider this further and we will meet again on Monday afternoon."
His Chinese counterpart, Wang Guangya, described Thursday’s discussions as "slow" while Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin spoke of "a good business-like working session."
"We are not yet at the point where we can come to agreement on various issues," the Russian envoy said.
The Russians have submitted a series of amendments to a draft resolution presented by Britain, France and Germany that calls for nuclear- and ballistic missile-related trade sanctions against Tehran.
The European draft also provides for a freeze on assets related to Iran’s nuclear and missile programs and travel bans on scientists involved in those programs.
It would however allow Russia to continue building a one-billion-dollar nuclear power plant in Bushehr — an exemption that diplomats say is crucial to efforts to gain Moscow’s approval.
But the Russians have proposed drastic amendments that would essentially gut the European text, by removing, among other things, any reference to a travel ban and assets freeze.
Russia and China, which maintain close energy and trade ties with Tehran, are reluctant to resort to tough sanctions to persuade Iran to suspend sensitive nuclear fuel work.
The United States meanwhile would like to toughen the European draft.
Churkin said his Western counterparts "have been listening carefully to our explanation" and "we have been listening carefully to their rationale."
He also expressed hope that top Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani’s talks in Moscow Friday would help "break the deadlock" in efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear crisis.
Iran faces sanctions after spurning an August 31 UN Security Council deadline to halt its uranium enrichment program — a process that can lead to the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons.
