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New draft resolution on Iran's N-case presented to Russia, China

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

United Nations, New York, July 20, IRNA
Iran-UNSC-Nuclear
A new draft resolution on Iran's nuclear case was presented to Russia and China -- two of the five veto-wielding members of the Security Council, France's Ambassador to the UN and UNSC president for July Jean-Marc de la Sabliere said.

The five permanent Security Council members plus Germany held their first official session held behind closed doors here to discuss Iran's nuclear case on Wednesday.

Earlier, on Tuesday, the European countries had presented China and Russia with a text that would require Iran to suspend uranium enrichment, but their envoys said they had to consult their home governments for instructions.

The new draft resolution, like the one presented on July 12, has been prepared by the European Union's Big 3 -- Germany, France and Britain -- and is strongly backed by the United States.

In both resolutions, the six powers disagree on the matter of invoking Chapter 7 of the UN Charter to justify imposition of sanctions on Iran if Tehran rejected the package of incentives it was offered last month.

US Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said the envoys had agreed that suspension of uranium enrichment should be mandatory on Iran but "what we have not reached agreement on is the right formulation of the words," obviously referring to the issue of invoking Chapter 7 of the UN Charter in the resolution.

He added that all members of the Security Council had directives on behalf of their countries on Iran's nuclear dossier and that his instruction was "to get this resolution passed as soon as possible, this week if possible."
Iran, on June 6, was offered a package of incentives by the UN Security Council's five permanent members -- Russia China, US, UK and France -- plus Germany through EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana in exchange for suspension of uranium enrichment and multilateral talks to settle the dispute over its nuclear program.

The five UNSC permanent members -- Russia, China, Britain, France and the United States -- are eager to obtain a speedy reply from Iran to the offer and referred Iran's dossier back to the UNSC on July in order to force it to give an earlier reply.

Iran, however, has insisted it will not be pressured to give a reply before the end of the Iranian month of Mordad (Aug 21).

Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin told reporters here Wednesday the international community was serious about Iran's nuclear case and expected Tehran to give its response at the earliest.

"If a response was to come tomorrow, that would make our task very easy as it would be unnecessary for us to continue this activity in the Security Council," said the Russian ambassador.

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