Tuesday
May182010
Permanent Members Of UN Security Council Agree On Proposed Iran Sanctions
Tuesday, May 18, 2010 at 9:02PM
The Permanent Members of the Security Council ( China, Russia, France, UK and US) agreed on a resolution draft for another round of sanctions against Iran one day after Turkey and Brazil announced they had brokered a nuclear fuel exchange with the Iranian regime, a move many believed would impede US negotiations for sanctions.
But the draft presented late this afternoon to the Security Council has already received a cold reaction from Brazilian Ambassador Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, who told reporters Brazil would not participate in debating the proposed resolution because it believes there is a better way to resolve the conflict.
"The draft seeks to support, not replace, our efforts to engage Iran diplomatically" said US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice."We've said through out this process that the door remains open to Iran to live up to its obligations and achieve a better relationship with the international community."
Rice said the new resolution aims to expand on existing UN resolutions by creating new categories of sanctions likely to "increase the cost" on Iranian authorities if they continue to flaunt their international nuclear obligations. Such measures would include new restrictions on Iran's import of conventional arms, provisions to block its use of international financial systems to fund nuclear proliferation and creating an annex of specific individuals and entities who would be subject to asset freezes and travel bans.
French Ambassador to the UN Gerard Araud said the agreement on the draft resolution reached by Security Council Members, all of whom have " very different political positions and interests", was proof of the international community's shared concern over the Iranian nuclear program.
Russia and China have been the main opponents to another round of sanctions on Iran, but Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters that, although Russsia would not have objected to a brief pause between the Brazilian-Turkish fuel swap and today's resolution draft, his government was satisfied with the general parameters of the sanctions.
"It is a language that is acceptable to us because it is focused adequately on non-proliferation matters and it is not supposed to create any problems for normal economic activity in Iran, it is not supposed to cause any humanitarian damage for Iran" said Churkin , adding that details about the annexes still need to be worked out and that consultations with non-permanent members of the Security Council on the matter would continue in the coming weeks.
But the draft presented late this afternoon to the Security Council has already received a cold reaction from Brazilian Ambassador Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, who told reporters Brazil would not participate in debating the proposed resolution because it believes there is a better way to resolve the conflict.
"The draft seeks to support, not replace, our efforts to engage Iran diplomatically" said US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice."We've said through out this process that the door remains open to Iran to live up to its obligations and achieve a better relationship with the international community."
Rice said the new resolution aims to expand on existing UN resolutions by creating new categories of sanctions likely to "increase the cost" on Iranian authorities if they continue to flaunt their international nuclear obligations. Such measures would include new restrictions on Iran's import of conventional arms, provisions to block its use of international financial systems to fund nuclear proliferation and creating an annex of specific individuals and entities who would be subject to asset freezes and travel bans.
French Ambassador to the UN Gerard Araud said the agreement on the draft resolution reached by Security Council Members, all of whom have " very different political positions and interests", was proof of the international community's shared concern over the Iranian nuclear program.
Russia and China have been the main opponents to another round of sanctions on Iran, but Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters that, although Russsia would not have objected to a brief pause between the Brazilian-Turkish fuel swap and today's resolution draft, his government was satisfied with the general parameters of the sanctions.
"It is a language that is acceptable to us because it is focused adequately on non-proliferation matters and it is not supposed to create any problems for normal economic activity in Iran, it is not supposed to cause any humanitarian damage for Iran" said Churkin , adding that details about the annexes still need to be worked out and that consultations with non-permanent members of the Security Council on the matter would continue in the coming weeks.
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