Diplomats hope UN Council will reach accord on Iran issue

United Nations, Mar 18 (UNI) The UN Security Council is close to reaching an agreement on a draft restating that Iran should comply with the IAEA guidelines, diplomats said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Iran's nuclear ambitions was discussed in the council's meeting held yesterday. It was the first time that the issue has been formally addressed by the powerful 15-member body.

Following the meeting, several diplomats who participated in the consultations told reporters that the agreement could be reached as early as next week, when the consultations were expected to be completed.

US Ambassador to the United Nations John R Bolton told reporters he was confident about the agreement about the implementation of the Franco-British draft.

Moscow and Beijing were of the view that the Security Council's involvement in the issue would take it away from the IAEA, the Vienna-based UN nuclear watchdog. They were also against the Security Council taking any punitive action or sanctions.

Among the points of disagreements is that seeking a demand from the IAEA that it send a fresh report on the Iran issue within two weeks. China had proposed up to six weeks.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in an interview published yesterday in Financial Times, dismissed the 14-day period as ''not very feasible''.

Mr Wang Guangya, the Chinese envoy, noted that Beijing and Moscow still had differences with the contents of the draft.

The draft calls upon Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment programme, which the Western nations insist is an effort towards bomb-making.

However, Tehran says its nuclear-energy efforts are only for peaceful purposes.

Mr Wang told reporters, ''We need to send a message that the Security Council is supporting, reinforcing the role of the IAEA; not replacing it or taking it over from IAEA''.

However, Mr Bolton said, ''The urgency of sending a clear and strong signal to Iran is certainly very much on our mind, conscious as we are that the Iranian centrifuges are spinning with uranium hexafluoride in them. That is a very serious matter. If I were as near to Iran as Russia is, I would certainly want to get this resolved quickly''.

UNI XC ARB AT RK1305