Agence France Presse – Slovakia on Tuesday added its voice to an international chorus of concern over Tehran’s nuclear programme, after six major powers agreed to continue pushing for new sanctions against Iran.
"I underlined the fear that we have concerning the current development" of the Iranian nuclear programme, said Foreign Minister Jan Kubis at a joint press conference in the capital with his counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki.
The ambassadors of the Council’s five permanent members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — plus Germany met earlier on Tuesday to tighten sanctions adopted by the Council in December.
The proposed draft would add an arms embargo as well as some financial and trade restrictions to the sanctions imposed on Iran in December after it spurned UN demands to halt sensitive nuclear fuel work.
It would notably add several senior officers of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards Corps to the list of officials subjected to an assets freeze.
The six powers have offered to suspend their sanctions against Iran if Tehran complies with UN demands, particularly by suspending uranium enrichment. Slovakia has been a member of the European Union since 2004, and currently has non-permanent member status of the UN Security Council.
