The UN Security Council was set to vote yesterday to marginally tighten UN sanctions against Iran over its refusal to freeze sensitive nuclear fuel work.
The 15-member council was scheduled to hold consultations from 1530 GMT yesterday, ahead of the vote to adopt a third sanctions resolution, which was slightly amended by its Western sponsors late on Friday.
The vote, initially planned for Saturday, was postponed to give the sponsors more time to try to win over four reticent council members: Indonesia, Libya, South Africa and Vietnam, which have questioned the need for new sanctions.
The four non-aligned countries see the sanctions as counterproductive, fearing they might push the Islamic republic to break off cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog.
Adoption of the text is a foregone conclusion as it has already been endorsed by the five veto-wielding members of the council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the US -- plus Germany.
And co-sponsors Britain and France have enough support among the 10 non-permanent members to ensure passage, which requires nine votes and no veto.
But they said they ideally would like unanimous support in order to send a strong and united signal to Tehran that it must suspend uranium enrichment and reprocessing within three months or face additional sanctions not involving the use of force.
The draft includes an outright ban on travel by officials involved in Tehran's nuclear and missile programs, and broadens a list of individuals and entities subject to an assets freeze.
It calls for inspections of shipments to and from Iran if there are suspicions of prohibited goods and urges states to "exercise vigilance" in entering into new commitments for public provided financial support for trade with Iran.
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