September 28, 2007

New Vote On Iran Sanctions Delayed

UPDATED.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice did not go out of her way to hide her disappointment at the latest setback in U.S. efforts to clamp down further on Iran.

"The international community has to have a greater sense of urgency about some of these issues," she said, speaking to reporters at the U.N. this afternoon. "We have two unanimous Security Council resolutions in place on Iran. We're working on a third, and using that track to try to invigorate the negotiations track." Rice conceded that there was already a "certain level of cooperation in Iran."

France, another one of the permanent five members of the U.N. Security Council that along with Germany are working to persuade Iran to shut down its nuclear program, sought to paper over internal divisions, on a day when the group announced a delay in a vote for tougher sanctions on Iran.

"The meeting was a success because we are still together, on two tracks -- negotiations and sanctions,'' said French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner. "There is a good compromise.''

The compromise was between the nations led by the U.S. in pushing for a new round of talks next month, and Russia and China, which are allies of Iran and wanted to wait until the end of the year. The P-5+1 will next meet in November to discuss some expected reports on Iran's nuclear program and whether sanctions will be in order.

Washington, Britain, France and Germany are frustrated at Iran's intransigence, which frighteningly mirrors that of Saddam Hussein's regime before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. With his boss, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Kouchner has displayed a dwindling amount of patience with Tehran's refusal to fully cooperate with IAEA inspectors, and on Sept. 16 set off a flurry of speculation when he said his nation "must prepare for" a military strike against Iran.

When asked why the U.S. wasn't able to persuade China and Russia of expedited talks, Nicholas Burns, undersecretary of state for political affairs, said cryptically that "the alchemy of this group is such that anything is going to be a compromise."

Russia and China pressed the group to hold off on a new round of talks on sanctions as they await reports from the IAEA and EU on Iran's uranium enrichment program. During the opening of the General Assembly this week, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insisted his country was entitled to enrich uranium for energy production, and said it would be "retarded" for Iran to try to weaponize its nuclear material.

The problem is that most of the Security Council nations don't believe him. Tehran has restricted access for the in-country IAEA inspectors, who believe that the material Iran already possess could be weaponized with relative ease. The U.S., however, was persuaded to drop its resistance to a deal Iran made with the IAEA in which it is required to answer questions about its program over a period of time.

The joint statement issued by the nations emphasized that the onus was on Iran to prove them wrong.

"We call upon Iran, however, to produce tangible results rapidly and effectively by clarifying all outstanding issues and concerns on Iran's nuclear program including topics which could have the military nuclear dimension.... Full transparency and cooperation by Iran with the IAEA is essential in order to address outstanding concerns."

AP and Bloomberg News have more on the negotiations.

Posted at 3:25 PM
Posted to: Asia, Bush Administration, China, Condoleezza Rice, EU, Europe, France, Germany, IAEA, Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Middle East, Nuclear Weapons, Russia, Terrorism, U.K., U.N.
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