The major powers moved closer to agreement on Monday night on a modest package of new sanctions against Iran likely to include an embargo on Iranian arms exports and an asset freeze on more individuals and companies associated with Tehran's nuclear and missile programs.
A new sanctions resolution is also likely to include a ban on government loans to Iran, council diplomats said. But a travel ban is out, and there will likely be no ban on arms imports or on export credit guarantees for companies doing business in Iran.
Ambassadors from the five veto-wielding permanent Security Council nations -- the US, Russia, China, Britain and France -- and Germany emerged from a closed-door meeting far more optimistic than ever before but also cautious because of potential problems with every proposal in the package.
"This is the best meeting we have had since the beginning of these negotiations," said France's UN Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere. "We are now very close, and we have made today [much] progress."
Acting US Ambassador Alejandro Wolff said ambassadors would report to their capitals on the possible elements for a new resolution and wait to see if they're approved or if changes are needed.
"There are still some concerns, and some delegations have not given full agreement. But we have, I think, made overall good progress," he said. "It's a package approach, and so there are things that we're very pleased about, and things that we're less pleased about -- and likewise for probably every delegation involved."
The Security Council was to meet on Somalia yesterday and the permanent members were expected to report afterwards on their progress in putting together an Iran resolution.
"If everything goes well, our hope would be to get it done by the end of the week -- a vote," Wolff said.
But he cautioned that there is still no draft resolution and it must be discussed with the 10 non-permanent council members.
In December, the Security Council voted unanimously to impose limited sanctions against Iran for its refusal to freeze uranium enrichment. It ordered all countries to stop supplying Iran with materials and technology that could contribute to its nuclear and missile programs and to freeze assets of 10 key Iranian companies and 12 individuals related to those programs.
The council warned it would adopt further non-military sanctions if Iran refused to comply.
As a result of Iran's expansion of its enrichment program in defiance of the council, the three European countries that have led negotiations trying to rein in Iran's nuclear program and the other permanent council nations have been considering possible new sanctions. They include a travel ban, an arms embargo, trade restrictions and an expanded list of people and companies subject to an asset freeze.
However, Iran yesterday shrugged off the threat of additional UN Security Council sanctions, saying any such measures would not affect its controversial atomic drive.
"The adoption of another resolution is not welcome but is not worrying," government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham told reporters. "It will not affect our work and will not concern our people."
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad brushed off warnings from inside and outside Iran that the passing of a second UN Security Council resolution against Tehran would put the country in an increasingly dangerous situation.
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