Russia wants big changes to UN Iran measure

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 4: Russia proposed extensive changes on Friday to soften and shorten a UN draft resolution that would impose tough sanctions on Iran for its nuclear ambitions, US and Russian envoys said.

With opposition from Russia and China, the negotiations among six major powers promise to be difficult on the UN Security Council draft drawn up by Britain, France and Germany.

The United States too wants amendments.

''The Russians gave us a complete line-in, line-out version of edits,'' said US Ambassador John Bolton. ''We will distribute our line-in, line-out text later this afternoon.'' Bolton said all the texts were being sent to governments and another meeting would probably be called next week.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said several times this week the resolution was too harsh on Iran's nuclear program, which the West believes is a cover for bombmaking but Tehran says is for peaceful uses.

''Our changes make the European draft quite a bit shorter,'' said Moscow's UN ambassador, Vitaly Churkin.

He said the resolution should not drive Iran away from negotiations and should exclude mention of the Bushehr nuclear plant that Russia is building in southwest Iran.

''We believe that first of all the resolution which the Security Council will be considering should facilitate the continuation of our talks with the Iranians, Churkin said, ''But at the same time -- and it is very important -- this draft resolution ... should not contain things which have no useful purpose but simply will lead people away from the goal of a negotiated outcome,'' he said.

The European draft demands all countries prevent the sale and supply of equipment, technology and financing contributing to Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. It also would freeze the assets of people and entities involved in these programs and bar them from traveling.

Yesterday's talks among the six powers were the first in more than a week. All but Germany, a key negotiator, are permanent Security Council members with veto power.

Chinese UN Ambassador Wang Guangya agreed with Russia and said sanctions should be imposed in stages.

''I think that it's a bit too tough,'' Wang said of the European draft. ''It might corner the Iranians.'' Wang said it resembled one recently adopted against North Korea and ''you cannot just apply the same standards.'' The sanctions should be used to put ''political pressure on the Iranians to come back to the negotiations,'' he said.

BUSHEHR EXEMPTION The draft resolution exempts from sanctions the 800 million dollars Bushehr reactor in southwestern Iran, expected to go into operation next year. But it says Russia must check with a Security Council committee if it delivers material that can be used for weapons, such as a fuel cycle.

Russia had objected to including Bushehr in the resolution, arguing it was a legal power plant under the 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

''We do believe that the Bushehr project does not have anything to do with concerns about nonproliferation, because it is clearly a peaceful nuclear power plant that we are helping Iranians to build,'' Churkin said.

Lavrov has said the resolution should focus only on areas the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has defined as serious concerns, such as uranium enrichment, chemical processing and heavy water reactors.

In Brussels on Thursday, Lavrov said the six powers had agreed that measures against Iran should be reasonable and proportional ''given the actual situation as regards the nuclear program in Iran, and should also be in stages.'' The new draft is in response to an earlier Security Council resolution demanding Tehran suspend its uranium-enrichment activities by August 31.

It was drawn up after Iran rejected earlier UN demands that it suspend enrichment, which can be used in the production of either power stations or warheads.

The European Union has offered economic and energy incentives if Iran temporarily suspends enrichment as a condition for talks on a peaceful nuclear programme.

Reuters