Agence France Presse – Six world powers meet in Paris on Tuesday to try to agree what sanctions to impose on Iran, for refusing to halt sensitive nuclear activities feared to be part of a drive to build the bomb.
High-ranking diplomats from the five veto-wielding UN Security Council members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — plus Germany will attend the talks Tuesday evening at the French foreign ministry.
A representative of European Union policy chief Javier Solana will also participate in the meeting.
World powers have been trying for weeks to agree on a package of sanctions to impose on Iran for ignoring a UN deadline to stop enriching uranium, which can be used to generate power or to build an atomic bomb.
While all agree on the principle of sanctions, they disagree on what form these should take, with Russia and to a lesser extent China, which have extensive economic and energy ties with Iran, seeking to limit their scope.
France’s Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said on Monday the talks — which follow several failed attempts to secure a deal on sanctions against Iran — had a strong chance of succeeding.
"I think that we can now reach agreement on the text," he said in Brussels, after talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
A draft resolution circulated by Britain, France and Germany would have barred trade with Iran in goods related to its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and slapped financial and travel restrictions on persons and agencies involved in either area.
Russia and China have tried to water down the text, saying the sanctions should not target individuals and should be limited in duration, while Washington wants to beef it up.
The United States, and to some extent France, have shown signs of impatience with the reluctance of China and Russia to put the package of sanctions to the vote in the Security Council.
On Thursday, US Secretary of States Condoleezza Rice said Washington may seek to impose a vote in spite of objections from Russia.
A top Russian official was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti news agency Tuesday that Security Council members were moving closer to an accord over the draft resolution, but added that talks were still tough going.
"Our differences on the draft resolution are not strategic in character, but tactical. It is very hard to predict what will happen once it is passed, there are arguments pro and contra, the process is still going on," Russia’s Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov said.
Determined to clinch an agreement, the Europeans late last month circulated a revised draft, the details of which have not been disclosed, to take "the concerns of all sides into account", according to the French foreign ministry.
"The idea is to arrive quickly at a resolution, to preserve the credibility of the Security Council," said a diplomat close to the negotiations.
More than three months have passed since the expiry of a UN deadline for Tehran to halt uranium enrichment under the threat of sanctions.
The six powers suspect Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian power generation programme — which Tehran strongly denies.
Such fears prompted Israel on Sunday to approve the creation of a new ministry for strategic affairs, mainly to deal with Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
