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S Africa's proposed 90-day `time out' on Iran rejected

Britain, France and the US made clear they would not agree to a 90-day "time out" on all sanctions against Iran that was proposed by South Africa, a suggestion the British ambassador called "totally perverse."

Acting US Ambassador Alejandro Wolff indicated Washington would also reject amendments by Indonesia and Qatar for the Middle East to be free of weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them -- because of their implications for Israel. It is widely believed to have developed nuclear weapons though the Israeli government has never officially acknowledged them.

The 15 members of the UN Security Council held their first negotiations late on Wednesday on the resolution drafted by six world powers to increase pressure on Iran to suspend uranium enrichment and amendments proposed by the non-permanent council members.

French UN Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said "a large majority" of council members support the draft. The six countries who back it -- the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany -- will send common ideas for amendments to their capitals on Wednesday night, he said.

By yesterday morning, he said, "I think we will be in a position to make some concrete proposals and changes in order to reach a unanimous Security Council."

The full council was scheduled to meet again late last night to discuss the proposed changes.

In December, the 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.

Iran responded by expanding its enrichment program -- and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad remains defiant, insisting the program is peaceful and aimed solely at producing nuclear energy, not nuclear weapons.

The six powers reacted by proposing new sanctions in the draft resolution which would ban Iranian arms exports and freeze the assets of 28 additional individuals and organizations involved in Iran's nuclear and missile programs -- about a third linked to the Revolutionary Guard, an elite military corps.

South Africa has proposed extensive amendments including a 90-day "time out" on all sanctions against Iran and elimination of an embargo on arms exports and financial sanctions targeting Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards and an Iranian bank.

"I told them we are making the amendments in the spirit of adding value to the draft," South African UN Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo said after the meeting, reiterating that his government believes the measures proposed by the six go beyond Iran's nuclear program.

Kumalo said the resolution's sponsors said they thought they could accommodate some amendments, "some of them are difficult because they change the aim of what they're trying to achieve, and others they will see."

In an obvious reference to the proposed 90-day "time out" on sanctions, British UN Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said all council members accept that Iran has failed to comply with the council's demands to suspend uranium enrichment.

Wolff said that any amendments to the sanctions have to be "consistent with the approach that we've laid out ... and deliver a clear message of what's required and what the consequences are of non-compliance."
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