Ambassadors of Security Council’s permanent members, Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, along with Germany have been trying for the past 10 days to nail down agreement on a draft that would tighten the sanctions slapped on Iran in December over its disputed nuclear program.
"We expect tomorrow to be in a position to introduce a text into the council," Britain’s UN Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry told reporters Wednesday after envoys of the Council’s five permanent members briefed their 10 non-permanent colleagues on the package.
US acting ambassador Alejandro Wolff told reporters that there was "an agreement in principle" among ambassadors of six major powers on the broad outline of the new sanctions on the basis of changes introduced Wednesday.
But he cautioned that the text first had to be approved by the respective capitals of the six envoys.
"We have asked for consultations at 11:00 am (1500 GMT) tomorrow. Our hope is that at that stage we can put forward a text, that that text will enjoy the support of those who have been working on it and then it will be for the council to decide how it wishes to deal with it," Jones Parry said.
South African Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, who chairs the 15-member council this month, confirmed that a council meeting was scheduled for Thursday morning.
He said the sponsors of the draft text had assured the non-permanent council members that they "would have enough time to review" it.
"The voting won’t be soon. We anticipate that the voting would happen well into next week" after all delegations have had a chance to study it and consult with their governments.
The six powers want Iran to suspend uranium enrichment as they fear the process could be diverted away from civilian use to make nuclear weapons. Iran has ruled out suspending enrichment and insists its nuclear program is entirely peaceful.
The latest working draft, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, would invoke Article 41 of the UN Charter — which provides for economic and trade sanctions but excludes the use of force — to call for a voluntary travel ban on officials involved in Iran’s "proliferation sensitive" nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
It would bar Iran from exporting "any arms or related materiel" and would call on "all states to exercise vigilance" and restrict the sale or transfer of "any battle tanks, armored combat vehicles, large caliber artillery systems, combat aircraft, attack helicopters, warships, missiles" and other arms.
Also under consideration are voluntary restrictions on "new commitments for grants, financial assistance and concessional loans to Iran" as well as extending an assets freeze to additional entities and individuals linked to Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.
Meanwhile, a defiant Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday dismissed the growing threat of more UN sanctions, saying it was Western powers that were isolated and not Tehran.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki also warned Wednesday that Tehran would respond "in equal measure" if the Council passes a resolution approving tougher sanctions against Tehran.
"If they (council) move to a solution in a diplomatic way, we are ready. If not, equal measures will be taken (by Iran)," Mottaki said without giving details during a brief official visit to Ljubljana, the Slovenian capital.
At UN headquarters, visiting Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni urged the Security Council Wednesday to tighten sanctions against Iran, stressing the urgency of preventing the Islamic Republic from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Saying that sanctions adopted by the Council in December had "a strong impact" on Iran, she said: "We expect the Security Council … to extend and strengthen the sanctions on Iran because the world cannot live with a nuclear Iran."