Following months of negotiations and an agreement between the five permanent member states, the Security Council in New York is expected to impose new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. The new package – the third one in five years against Iran – will in particular target the Revolutionary Guard as well as Iran’s military and nuclear industries. It will add 41 enterprises to the blacklist, which the ‘New York Times’ has seen. Eleven or 12 out of the 15 nations on the council appear committed to approving the resolution, including all five veto-wielding powers. It remains unclear if Bosnia, Brazil, Lebanon and Turkey will vote against the package or abstain.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said on a trip to Ecuador that she thought the Security Council measures were “the most significant sanctions that Iran has ever faced.” Susan E. Rice, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said on the resolution text: “It is strong, it is broad based, and it will have a significant impact on Iran, which is why Iran has worked so hard to try to prevent its adoption. Our aim remains to persuade Iran to halt its nuclear program and negotiate constructively.”

Three Western countries on the council – Britain, France and the United States – and Russia rejected a nuclear fuel swap deal, brokered with Turkey and Brazil last month, which under which Tehran would ship 1,200 kg of its low-enriched uranium abroad in return for special nuclear fuel rods for its medical research reactor. The four countries believe that Iran has been steadily stockpiling uranium and would still have enough material to build a bomb.