Agence France Presse – Senior US and European officials indicated Friday that new UN sanctions being drawn up against Iran to curb its nuclear program will involve only a relatively minor tightening of measures imposed by the world body in December.
"This is going to be an incremental resolution," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
"It will be proportionate to the response that the Iranians have given the international community to this point," he told reporters as diplomats from the big five UN Security Council states plus Germany pursued talks on the new resolution.
McCormack would not go into detail on the new sanctions being considered in light of Iran’s refusal to comply with the December resolution demanding it suspend a uranium enrichment program that can also be used to develop nuclear weapons.
But a senior US official said the resolution would not include significant new punitive measures but would rather extend targeted measures against firms and individuals involved with Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
"We are talking about the issues of travel bans and asset freezes," the official said.
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy also said earlier Friday in Paris that the new resolution would focus on "deepening" of the targeted actions taken in December.
McCormack said senior officials from Britain, China, France, Russia, the US and Germany already agreed on "the major elements" of the new resolution in a telephone conference Thursday.
They are expected to hammer out the remaining differences Saturday and then direct their ambassadors at UN headquarters in New York to begin drafting the actual resolution early next week, he said.
The resolution is part of a gradual ratcheting up of pressure on Iran to halt its uranium enrichment and reprocessing programs in exchange for economic aid and improved relations with the United States and its Western allies.
The December sanctions, centered on an embargo on the sale of nuclear-related materials to Iran as well as the asset and travel freeze, were agreed only after months of tense negotiations, with Russia in particular resisting US pressure for tougher action.
The move to impose additional sanctions came after the UN nuclear watchdog reported last week that Iran had not halted, but in fact was expanding, its uranium enrichment program.
Iran has denied seeking atomic weapons, and asserts it has a right to a peaceful nuclear program. It vowed on Tuesday never to yield to the West’s demand for a freeze on sensitive nuclear work.
The quick pace of progress on a second sanctions package after the tedious negotiations last year appears to reflect scaled back US pressure for more extensive punishment.
McCormack acknowledged Friday that Washington had been surprised at the effectiveness of the December resolution once it had been watered down by Russian objections.
"We readily admitted that this was not the resolution that we ourselves would have drafted, we would have included other elements in it," he said.
"But what’s very interesting is that, in the implementation of this resolution, as well as the collateral effects of the resolution, it has actually been a very effective mechanism by which to pressure the Iranian regime," he said.
"We have seen that even small steps within the international system in the form of these sanctions resolutions are actually quite effective," he said.
US officials assert that the mere existence of mandatory UN sanctions against has begun discouraging international business dealings with Iran and is fueling unusual dissent inside the country against the hardline stance of President Mahmud Ahmadinejad.
