UN Council expected to vote Iran sanctions tomorrow

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 22: The UN Security Council is expected to vote tomorrow on a resolution imposing sanctions on Tehran's nuclear work, a one-day delay because of Russian objections to parts of the measure.

The current council president, Nasser Abdelaziz al-Nasser of Qatar, said he planned for a vote in the morning, hours after another round of consultations today of the full 15-member council as well as talks among key negotiators -- Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Russia and China.

But the United States, diplomats said, was still pushing for a vote before the end of today on the resolution demanding Tehran end all uranium enrichment work, which can produce fuel for nuclear power plants and atomic bombs.

The thrust of the sanctions are a ban on imports and exports of dangerous materials and technology relating to uranium enrichment, reprocessing and heavy-water reactors, as well as ballistic missile delivery systems.

Iran has vowed to continue its nuclear program, which it says is for peaceful uses only, even if the resolution is adopted with the approval of Russia, which is building an 800 million dollar light-water reactor for Tehran at Bushehr that is exempted in the resolution.

Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, according to council diplomats, wanted to soften a provision calling for a freeze on financial assets abroad of 11 individuals and 12 Iranian organizations associated with nuclear programs to prevent them from buying dangerous materials. The list is attached to the resolution.

SANCTIONS COMMITTEE

Russia, they said, wanted to distinguish between permissible activities of these organizations as compared to those relating to enrichment, reprocessing and research on heavy-water reactors -- a move Western nations fear could make the financial freeze meaningless.

''We have never had an objection to assets freeze per se,'' Churkin said. ''But we must make sure that perfectly legal, innocent activities which have nothing to do with a risk of nuclear proliferation can proceed normally. This is our interest.'' Churkin said he preferred that a council sanctions committee sort things out and determine ''exactly who is doing what and why,'' rather than having the annex as part of the resolution.

Anything sent to a sanctions panel could take months to determine and needs approval from all 15 council members.

In a concession to Moscow, the Europeans deleted a mandatory travel ban on Wednesday, and instead told nations to notify a Security Council sanctions panel if any Iranians on the list transit through their countries.

The measure is a reaction to Iran's failure to comply with an August 31 UN deadline to suspend uranium enrichment work and resume negotiations.

The resolution is under Article 41 of Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which makes enforcement mandatory but restricts action to nonmilitary measures. It would suspend sanctions if Tehran in turn suspended ''all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including research and development.'' The bans would be lifted once Iran had fully complied with Security Council resolutions and directives from the International Atomic Energy Agency. But if Iran refuses the council would consider further measures, the text says.

Reuters