Envoys from Britain, China, France, Russia, the US and Germany huddled for nearly three hours behind closed doors on Thursday to mull a US draft resolution that would slap sanctions on Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards, widely believed to be using uranium enrichment as a cover to build nuclear weapons, a claim the Iranians deny.
“We had a worthwhile discussion …We look forward to continuing these discussions here in New York and in capitals in the days and weeks to come,” US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice told reporters at the end of the meeting.
Her Russian counterpart Vitaly Churkin meanwhile emerged from the meeting, saying: “We heard some constructive proposals.”
China’s UN Ambassador Li Baodong (李保東) said after the meeting that the six powers would continue to pursue a diplomatic solution even as they sought a deal over sanctions to persuade Tehran to halt its uranium enrichment program.
“The dual track [sanctions coupled with negotiations] approach is actually focused on diplomacy,” Li said, adding that fresh talks were planned for next week.
In Prague, US and Russian presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev warned Iran of possible sanctions shortly after signing a new landmark strategic arms reduction treaty.
Obama called for “smart” and “strong” sanctions by the UN, which in May will hold a review conference on the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
“I have said many times that sanctions very often do not work, but sometimes they are necessary .... These need to be smart sanctions, capable of prompting the right behavior,” Medvedev added.
To avoid a fourth round of UN Security Council sanctions over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment, Russia and China have tried unsuccessfully to coax Iran into accepting a UN-brokered deal under which it would send 1,200kg of low-enriched uranium (LEU) — enough to build a nuclear bomb — to France and Russia for conversion into fuel for its Tehran research reactor.
But Iranian officials have refused to hand over Tehran’s stockpile of LEU, insisting on a simultaneous exchange of the material for the fuel within the borders of the Islamic republic. World powers oppose this condition.
Meanwhile the US State Department said efforts to pressure Iran to curtail its nuclear ambitions would be a “significant” topic during next week’s nuclear summit in Washington.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday he would not beg the world powers to refrain from imposing new sanctions.
Iran’s top general, Hassan Firouzabadi, warned that if Washington attacks the Islamic republic none of the American soldiers in the region would return home alive, the Fars news agency reported.
Firouzabadi’s comments come a day after Ahmadinejad warned Obama of a tough response as he lashed out against Washington’s new nuclear doctrine.
“Be careful. If you set step in Mr [George W.] Bush’s path, the nations’ response would be the same tooth-breaking one as they gave Bush,” Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday.
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