By Evelyn Leopold
Reuters – Europeans gave a revised draft resolution aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions to Russia and China and intend to circulate it to the full U.N. Security Council on Friday in hopes of a vote next week, two diplomats said.
The text, according to European envoys, still bars Iran from buying and selling key nuclear materials and technology, according to an international list from nuclear suppliers and another one applying to ballistic missiles.
But it leaves dual-use items on the same lists to the discretion of individual nations. The previous draft resolution drawn up by Britain, France and Germany and backed by the United States, included all materials and items relating to nuclear technology and ballistic missiles.
A key difference is that the new resolution allows Russia to continue construction and supply fuel to an $800 million light-water reactor it is building at Bushehr in southwest Iran. The original draft was ambiguous on fuel supplies and operations.
The sanctions are a reaction to Iran’s failure to comply with an Aug. 31 U.N. deadline to suspend uranium enrichment, which can produce fuel for nuclear power plants or for bombs. The West believes Iran’s enrichment work is a cover for bomb-making. Tehran says it is for generating electricity.
But the text would still freeze finances abroad of individuals, groups and businesses involved in Iran’s nuclear program and impose a travel ban on them, items which Russia, backed by China, oppose.
The main fear, the envoys said, speaking on condition of anonymity before the text is circulated, is that the resolution, haggled over for months, would never be adopted.
Rather than seek a unanimous vote, the United States and the Europeans are willing to have Moscow and Beijing abstain on the measure, the diplomats told Reuters.
Russia wants the sanctions to expire in three months, subject to renewal, which the Western nations rejected in the resolution. But the sanctions would be lifted if Iran suspends enrichment activities.
Senior officials from France, Britain, Germany, Russia, China and the United States met in Paris on Tuesday but did not agree on a draft text.
"Are we in a hurry or not?" asked French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy at a news conference on Wednesday. "Yes, because I believe, as someone said earlier, that the credibility of the United Nations Security Council is at stake."
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said any decision to impose sanctions on Iran would be illegal.
"We (would) consider such a decision as a threat to our national interests and security," Mottaki said. "The Security Council is a place to strengthen security for countries, not to threaten security," he said at a news conference in The Hague.
The Western nations have spoken about a follow up resolution but this is doubtful, considering the difficulties with the initial one.
(Additional reporting by Francois Murphy in Paris)
