The US and three European powers hope to blacklist Iran’s central bank and firms linked to the Revolutionary Guard Corps in a new round of UN sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear program, diplomats said.
Western powers have called for a fourth round of UN measures against Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment activities as demanded by five Security Council resolutions.
Iran insists it has a sovereign right to produce nuclear fuel for what it says is a peaceful civilian atomic energy program. The West fears Tehran’s program is aimed at developing nuclear weapons.
The US, Britain, France and Germany want to reach an agreement this month with Russia and China — which have veto power on the Security Council and have opposed tough sanctions in the past — so that they can begin work on a new UN sanctions resolution as soon as possible.
Western diplomats told reporters that officials at the US State Department have circulated a paper outlining possible new sanctions to senior foreign ministry officials in London, Paris and Berlin.
Officials from the four Western powers will hold a conference call soon, possibly later this week, to try to agree on a sanctions proposal to put to Moscow and Beijing, the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
At a meeting in New York last month, senior foreign ministry officials, known as political directors, from five of the six powers discussed Iran’s nuclear program. Diplomats said China sent a low-level envoy who declared Beijing felt it was not the right time to pursue further sanctions against Tehran.
Diplomats said US plans to sell US$6.4 billion in weapons to Taiwan could complicate negotiations with China.
Diplomats in New York said the four Western powers wanted to present as ambitious a sanctions package as possible to Russia and China, which have lucrative economic ties to Iran, because it would be watered down in subsequent negotiations.
They said the confidential US proposal, described as a working document that would be revised, covered general areas where new or broader sanctions could be imposed — including expanding existing travel bans and asset freezes to other Iranian individuals and companies.
Several diplomats told reporters the Western powers would like to target Iran’s central bank, which they said was a key player in financing Tehran’s nuclear and missile industries and in skirting UN sanctions.
It was not clear which other banks would be targeted. One diplomat said they were looking at Iran’s five biggest banks.
Two previous sanctions resolutions passed in March 2007 and March 2008 blacklisted Iran’s Bank Sepah and urged countries to “exercise vigilance” over the activities of all Iranian financial institutions, above all Bank Melli and Bank Saderat.
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