New deadline for Iran on nuclear issue
Tuesday, 2 October 2007
Daniel Dombey
THE world's big powers has given Iran a new deadline of late November to rein back its nuclear programme or face heightened sanctions, but also asked Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, to work on reaching a deal with Tehran.
In a tacit acknowledgement that opposition from Russia and China made speedy passage of a new United Nations sanctions resolution impossible, Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, agreed with her counterparts among the permanent members of the UN Security Council, Germany and Mr Solana to complete work on a new package of sanctions but to delay putting it to a vote until late November.
The US had previously called for a new Security Council resolution to be passed straight away and described the issue as a test of the UN's credibility.
But, at the meeting in New York last Friday, the foreign ministers agreed that the Security Council would move ahead with further sanctions only after two reports due in November.
One report, to be compiled by Mr Solana, would deal with the Security Council's demand that Iran cease uranium enrichment - a process that can yield both nuclear fuel and weapons grade material. Last Friday, the ministers asked Mr Solana to meet Ali Larijani, Iran's top security official "to lay the foundation for future negotiations", but sporadic meetings between the two men over the past two years have yet to produce a breakthrough.
The second report will be by Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, who last month agreed a plan with Iran that he hopes will resolve unanswered questions about the nature of Tehran's nuclear programme.
While Iran insists its programme is purely peaceful, the US and the EU believe it is seeking nuclear weapons. Despite initial western frustration with Mr ElBaradei's initiative, the US and the EU now believe new UN sanctions cannot be imposed while the question and answer process he has begun is still in train. Mr ElBaradei is expected to report back before the IAEA's next board meeting on November 22.
Two previous Security Council resolutions have imposed asset freezes and visa bans on people and groups associated with Iran's nuclear and missile programmes, as well as targeting Iran's Revolutionary Guard. The US and EU say that, together with an informal push to convince western banks and other groups to pull back from Iran, such measures are beginning to have an effect on Iran. New sanctions under discussion include an arms embargo on Iran and a naval inspection regime for Iranian vessels.
"Sanctions as a political tool for exerting pressure [are] ineffective in making Iran change its basically rational policy choice," Manouchehr Mottaki, Iranian foreign minister, told a separate meeting in New York.
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— FT Syndication Service
THE world's big powers has given Iran a new deadline of late November to rein back its nuclear programme or face heightened sanctions, but also asked Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, to work on reaching a deal with Tehran.
In a tacit acknowledgement that opposition from Russia and China made speedy passage of a new United Nations sanctions resolution impossible, Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, agreed with her counterparts among the permanent members of the UN Security Council, Germany and Mr Solana to complete work on a new package of sanctions but to delay putting it to a vote until late November.
The US had previously called for a new Security Council resolution to be passed straight away and described the issue as a test of the UN's credibility.
But, at the meeting in New York last Friday, the foreign ministers agreed that the Security Council would move ahead with further sanctions only after two reports due in November.
One report, to be compiled by Mr Solana, would deal with the Security Council's demand that Iran cease uranium enrichment - a process that can yield both nuclear fuel and weapons grade material. Last Friday, the ministers asked Mr Solana to meet Ali Larijani, Iran's top security official "to lay the foundation for future negotiations", but sporadic meetings between the two men over the past two years have yet to produce a breakthrough.
The second report will be by Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, who last month agreed a plan with Iran that he hopes will resolve unanswered questions about the nature of Tehran's nuclear programme.
While Iran insists its programme is purely peaceful, the US and the EU believe it is seeking nuclear weapons. Despite initial western frustration with Mr ElBaradei's initiative, the US and the EU now believe new UN sanctions cannot be imposed while the question and answer process he has begun is still in train. Mr ElBaradei is expected to report back before the IAEA's next board meeting on November 22.
Two previous Security Council resolutions have imposed asset freezes and visa bans on people and groups associated with Iran's nuclear and missile programmes, as well as targeting Iran's Revolutionary Guard. The US and EU say that, together with an informal push to convince western banks and other groups to pull back from Iran, such measures are beginning to have an effect on Iran. New sanctions under discussion include an arms embargo on Iran and a naval inspection regime for Iranian vessels.
"Sanctions as a political tool for exerting pressure [are] ineffective in making Iran change its basically rational policy choice," Manouchehr Mottaki, Iranian foreign minister, told a separate meeting in New York.
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— FT Syndication Service