US sees sanctions by May, Iran lobbies against West
Saturday, 24 April 2010
WASHINGTON, Apr 23 (Reuters): United States (US) Vice-president Joe Biden said Thursday he expects new sanctions on Iran by May as Tehran began lobbying the UN Security Council to oppose new steps against the Islamic Republic over its atomic plans.
Biden issued the latest US warning to Iran, locked in a standoff with the West over a nuclear program Tehran insists is entirely peaceful, in an appearance on ABC television's 'The View' talk show.
"Everyone from the Israeli prime minister straight through to the British prime minister to the president of Russia, everyone agrees the next step we should take is the UN sanction route," Biden said.
"I believe you will see a sanction regime coming out by the end of this month, beginning of next month," he said. Asked if Israel might attack Iran's nuclear facilities without consulting Washington, Biden said Israel had agreed to wait and see what the impact of new UN sanctions would be.
As closed-door negotiations continue on a draft resolution for the UN Security Council, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki heads to Vienna and other capitals to lobby council members to oppose any new UN sanctions.
If negotiations on a fourth round of UN punitive measures against Tehran run past May, the US House of Representatives has declared Congress should finalize legislation to impose new unilateral US sanctions on Iran by the end of next month -- whether or not the Security Council has acted.
Meanwhile, China describes diplomacy as "the best way to resolve Iran's nuclear issue" amid a loudening drumbeat for crippling sanctions against the country.
In a Thursday press conference in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said her country is still committed to breaking the logjam over Iran's enrichment activities through diplomacy.
Biden issued the latest US warning to Iran, locked in a standoff with the West over a nuclear program Tehran insists is entirely peaceful, in an appearance on ABC television's 'The View' talk show.
"Everyone from the Israeli prime minister straight through to the British prime minister to the president of Russia, everyone agrees the next step we should take is the UN sanction route," Biden said.
"I believe you will see a sanction regime coming out by the end of this month, beginning of next month," he said. Asked if Israel might attack Iran's nuclear facilities without consulting Washington, Biden said Israel had agreed to wait and see what the impact of new UN sanctions would be.
As closed-door negotiations continue on a draft resolution for the UN Security Council, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki heads to Vienna and other capitals to lobby council members to oppose any new UN sanctions.
If negotiations on a fourth round of UN punitive measures against Tehran run past May, the US House of Representatives has declared Congress should finalize legislation to impose new unilateral US sanctions on Iran by the end of next month -- whether or not the Security Council has acted.
Meanwhile, China describes diplomacy as "the best way to resolve Iran's nuclear issue" amid a loudening drumbeat for crippling sanctions against the country.
In a Thursday press conference in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said her country is still committed to breaking the logjam over Iran's enrichment activities through diplomacy.