Diplomatic battle for new UN sanctions against Iran heating up
05 March 2010
After a closed-door session of the United Nations Security Council on Sudan and Iran, the United States ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, has denied reports that Washington had elaborated and circulated a draft resolution regarding new sanctions against Iran. "We are not at the present circulating a draft text of a resolution to Council colleagues here in New York," Rice said. Media reports said the sanctions package proposed by Washington would both broaden the scope and intensify three previous rounds of sanctions enacted since 2006 in an effort to persuade Iran to halt uranium enrichment and compromise over its nuclear program.
China again pointed out that diplomatic efforts had to continue before any new sanctions should be imposed. However, some experts believe Beijing will eventually accept a watered-down resolution in the Security Council. "China is preparing the ground to effectively water down the expectations and the impact of any sanctions that might eventually be agreed," Sarah Raine of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, was quoted as saying by the news agency ‘Agence France Presse’. "The question is making sure from China's perspective that those sanctions have minimal impact on its interests there," she added.
The European Union told the Board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna that it supported new Iran sanctions. "Iran's persistent failure to meet its international obligations require a clear response, including through appropriate measures,” adding that the EU would support action by the UN Security Council “if Iran continues not to cooperate with the international community over its nuclear program.”
Meanwhile, the Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate and human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi warned against imposing international sanctions on her country, but said Western companies should not assist the regime in Tehran to continue its oppression. Speaking at the Asia Society in New York she said sanctions on Iran would backfire. However, Ebadi called on governments to stop Western firms from doing business with the regime in Tehran.
Ebadi left Iran a day before the June 2009 presidential elections to attend a conference in Spain, and has yet to return. Her sister was arrested after mass protests in December. A month earlier, Ebadi said the Iranian government had confiscated her Nobel Prize medal from a Tehran bank vault. The Iranian authorities have denied this.
Brazilian President Luís Iñacio Lula da Silva also reiterated his opposition to sanctions. “It is not prudent to push Iran up against a wall. The prudent thing is to establish negotiations.” Lula is scheduled to visit Iran soon. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met earlier this week with Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim.
» German minister says Iranian membership of UN Human Rights Council would be an “affront”
» Iran attacks Western “lewdness” at UN Human Rights Council meeting
» Has the time come for military action against Iran's nuclear program? 
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