Text 25866, 150 rader
Skriven 2006-12-23 20:29:00 av Jeff Binkley (1:226/600)
Ärende: Iran
============
I honestly never thought I'd see this happen.  While only symbolic, they 
actually agreed to something.

======================================

Security Council Approves Iran Sanctions
 
 
 Email this Story

Dec 23, 4:11 PM (ET)

By EDITH M. LEDERER

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously 
Saturday to impose sanctions on Iran for refusing to suspend uranium 
enrichment, increasing international pressure on the government to prove 
that it is not trying to make nuclear weapons. Iran immediately rejected 
the resolution.

The result of two months of tough negotiation, the resolution orders all 
countries to stop supplying Iran with materials and technology that 
could contribute to its nuclear and missile programs. It also freezes 
Iranian assets of 10 key companies and 12 individuals related to those 
programs.

If Iran refuses to comply, the council warned it would adopt further 
nonmilitary sanctions, but the resolution emphasized the importance of 
diplomacy in seeking guarantees "that Iran's nuclear program is 
exclusively for peaceful purposes."

Iran insists its nuclear program is intended to produce energy, but the 
Americans and Europeans suspect its ultimate goal is the production of 
weapons.

The Iranian government immediately rejected the resolution, vowing in a 
statement from Tehran to continue enriching uranium, a technology that 
can be used to produce nuclear fuel for civilian purposes or fuel for a 
nuclear bomb. The government said it "has not delegated its destiny to 
the invalid decisions of the U.N. Security Council."

The United States said it hopes the resolution will clear the way for 
tougher measures by individual countries, particularly Russia.

"We don't think this resolution is enough in itself," Undersecretary of 
State Nicholas Burns said in Washington. "We want to let the Iranians 
know that there is a big cost to them," he added, so they will return to 
talks.

The administration had pushed for tougher penalties. But Russia and 
China, which both have strong commercial ties to Tehran, and Qatar, 
across the Persian Gulf from Iran, balked. To get their votes, the 
resolution dropped a ban on international travel by Iranian officials 
involved in nuclear and missile development and specified the banned 
items and technologies.

The U.N. vote came just a day after talks with North Korea - already 
under similar but tougher U.N. sanctions for conducting a nuclear test - 
failed to make any progress in halting that country's atomic program.

Israel, which considers Iran its single greatest threat because 
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for the Jewish state's 
destruction, welcomed the resolution. Mark Regev, a Foreign Ministry 
spokesman, said the vote was "an important first step in preventing 
Iranian nuclear proliferation."

Iran's U.N. Ambassador Javad Zarif denounced the council for imposing 
sanctions on Iran, which opposes nuclear weapons and has its facilities 
under U.N. safeguards, while doing nothing about Israel, whose prime 
minister recently appeared to confirm long suspicions that it is a 
nuclear power.

"A nation is being punished for exercising its inalienable rights" to 
develop nuclear energy, primarily at the behest of the United States and 
Israel, "which is apparently being rewarded today for having 
clandestinely developed and unlawfully possessed nuclear weapons," Zarif 
said.

In a final attempt to win Russian support, the measure dropped one 
Iranian company from the list of those facing an asset freeze.

Ahead of the vote, Russian President Vladimir Putin called President 
Bush, agreeing on the need for a resolution, said Blain Rethmeier, a 
White house spokesman.

We hope the Russian government is going to work with us in a very active 
way to send this message of unity to Iran and we hope Russia is going to 
take a very vigorous approach itself," Burns said after the vote.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Moscow agreed to sanctions 
because it focuses on measures Iran must take, spelled out by the 
International Atomic Energy Agency, "to lift remaining concerns" about 
its nuclear ambitions.

He stressed that the goal must be to resume talks. If Iran suspends 
enrichment and reprocessing, the resolution calls for a suspension of 
sanctions and further negotiations.

China's U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya called for stepped up diplomatic 
efforts, saying "sanctions are not the end but a means to urge Iran to 
resume negotiations," he said.

Acting U.S. Ambassador Alejandro Wolff said the United States hopes Iran 
"comes to understand that the pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability 
makes it less, not more secure."

The resolution authorizes action under Article 41 of Chapter 7 of the 
U.N. Charter. It allows the Security Council to impose nonmilitary 
sanctions such as severing diplomatic and economic relations, 
transportation and communications links.

To replace the travel ban, the resolution now calls on all states "to 
exercise vigilance" regarding the entry or transit through their 
territory of the dozen Iranians on the U.N. list. It asks the 191 other 
U.N. member states to notify a Security Council committee that will be 
created to monitor sanctions when those Iranians show up in their 
country.

The resolution also says the council will review Iran's actions in light 
of a report from the head of the IAEA, requested within 60 days, on 
whether Iran has suspended uranium enrichment and complied with other 
IAEA demands.

If the IAEA - the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog - verifies that Iran has 
suspended enrichment and reprocessing, the resolution says the sanctions 
will be suspended to allow for negotiations. It says sanctions will end 
as soon as the IAEA board confirms that Iran has complied with all its 
obligations.

Before the final text was circulated, Churkin pressed for amendments to 
ensure that Moscow can conduct legitimate nuclear activities in Iran.

Russia is building Iran's first atomic power plant at Bushehr, which is 
expected to go on line in late 2007. A reference to Bushehr in the 
original draft was removed earlier - as Russia demanded.

The six key parties trying to curb Iran's nuclear program - Britain, 
France, Germany, Russia, China and the United States - offered Tehran a 
package of economic incentives and political rewards in June if it 
agreed to consider a long-term moratorium on enrichment and committed 
itself to a freeze on uranium enrichment before talks on its nuclear 
program.

That package remains an option, but with Iran refusing to comply with an 
Aug. 31 council deadline to stop enrichment, Britain and France in late 
October circulated a draft sanctions resolution, which has since been 
revised several times. 

--- PCBoard (R) v15.3/M 10
 * Origin:  (1:226/600)