http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/070307001935.wgf2njam.html
Major powers mull arms, travel, financial sanctions against Iran 07/03/2007 06h46 Emyr Jones Parry ©AFP/File - Stan Honda UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - The UN Security Council on Tuesday considered new sanctions against Iran over its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment, including an arms embargo and a travel ban. Britain's UN Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry, acting on behalf of six powers trying to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, briefed the 10 non-permanent members of the Council on "elements" of a resolution that would build on UN sanctions adopted last December. The proposed resolution would include a travel ban, an arms embargo, financial and trade restrictions and expanding a list of people or entities involved in nuclear and ballistic missile work subjected to an assets freeze, said South Africa's UN Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, who chairs the Security Council for March, after the briefing. Wang Guangya ©AFP/File - Stan Honda The new measures were discussed by envoys of the council's five permanent members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany Monday on instruction from senior officials of their respective foreign ministries who discussed the issue by telephone Saturday. Jones Parry described them as "an incremental ratcheting up" of the December sanctions, adding that the door was still open for Iran to return to the negotiating table by complying with demands that it freeze uranium enrichment. The sanctions adopted by the council in December included a ban on the sale of nuclear and ballistic missile-related materials to the Islamic republic and a freeze on financial assets of Iranians involved in illicit atomic and ballistic missile research. Vitaly Churkin ©AFP/File - Stan Honda The punitive measures were imposed after Tehran spurned UN demands that it suspend uranium enrichment, which can be used to develop a nuclear bomb. After a meeting of envoys of the six powers Tuesday afternoon, Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya made it clear that they had not yet begun drafting a text. "We are comparing notes...and we will continue the discussions," he noted. Jones Parry said no date had yet been fixed for their next meeting. On Monday, Russian Ambassador Vitaly said "there was a very good chance" that a draft would be approved by the full council before the end of the month. Kumalo said he expected a draft to emerge "in the middle of the week," although a Western diplomat said this was unlikely to happen Wednesday. A general view shows the Bushehr nuclear power plant ©AFP/File Earlier Tuesday, France's UN Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said: "Our objective is to go swiftly. ... But what we would like is to have unity, keep the six, keep the council united." German Ambassador Thomas Matussek Monday said the proposed ban on arms exports to Iran faced stiff opposition from Russia and China, which maintains close economic and energy ties with Tehran. And he indicated that his own government was reluctant to agree to restrictions on export credits. "We do not want to hurt our small and medium-sized enterprises ...So we have to calibrate in a way that we get the message across. On the other hand we don't want to shoot ourselves in the foot," he told AFP. A Russian technician walks inside the Reactor building of the Bushehr nuclear power plant ©AFP/File - Behrouz Mehri Iran remains defiant, repeatedly denying it is seeking a nuclear weapons capability, and insisting it has a right under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to conduct uranium enrichment for electricity generation. Meanwhile the European Union was set to condemn Iran's continued nuclear defiance but still urge negotiations, at a meeting of the UN atomic agency this week in Vienna. A draft of an EU statement to be delivered on Thursday says that the EU says "a comprehensive offer is still on the table and the door remains open," referring to a deal of trade, security and technology benefits for Iran if it guarantees it will not seek nuclear weapons. +++ ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Yahoo! Groups gets a make over. See the new email design. http://us.click.yahoo.com/hOt0.A/lOaOAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
