Talks are under way between the United States and allied nations over levying additional sanctions against Iran for its continued nuclear intransigence, U.S. President Barack Obama said today (see GSN, Nov. 18).
(Nov. 19) -
U.S. President Barack Obama, shown today greeting troops in South Korea, said Washington and its allies have begun discussion of new nuclear sanctions against Iran (Getty Images).
Obama made his statement one day after Iran appeared to reject the latest plan for reducing tensions in the nuclear standoff, the Associated Press reported. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said his nation would not agree to send any of its low-enriched uranium abroad for refinement in France and Russia. The material ultimately would be used to power a research reactor in Tehran.
"They have been unable to get to 'yes,' and so as a consequence, we have begun discussions with our international partners about the importance of having consequences," Obama said during a trip to South Korea.
He did not provide additional details of the possible sanctions beyond calling them a "package of potential steps that we could take that will indicate our seriousness to Iran" (Jennifer Loven, Associated Press I/Time, Nov. 19).
The plan, formalized by International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, is intended to reduce immediate concerns that Iran could use its existing stockpile of low-enriched uranium to produce nuclear weapons material. Officials in Washington and other Western nations hope it would also give them more time to persuade Tehran to give up on uranium enrichment.
Iran has yet to provide its official response on the offer to the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the U.S. State Department said yesterday.
"What was said today doesn't inspire our confidence" that Iran would move ahead with the proposal, said spokesman Ian Kelly (Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press II/ABC News, Nov. 18).
The International Atomic Energy Agency was also not sure whether Mottaki's statement represented an official rejection of the plan or an individual opinion, the New York Times reported (Michael Slackman, New York Times, Nov. 18).
"We have waited long enough for Iran," one European diplomat told Reuters. "We and our friends in the (six powers) agree it is time to consider next steps at the U.N."
However, U.S. and European officials understand that China and Russia are not going to support major penalties against Iran, such as those aimed at its oil and gas sectors. The two nations have tight economic relations with the Middle Eastern state and veto authority on the U.N. Security Council.
Beijing and Moscow would be more likely to accept more token sanctions, including identifying new individuals or entities for travel restrictions and asset freezes, according to Western diplomats. Penalties could encompass "at least another bank, more individuals, more companies -- possibly a shipping company -- a tighter ban on arms, possibly political measures," one high-level Western source said.
Western states, though, could go around the Security Council for more significant punishments, one official said. Examples offered by sources included prohibiting Iranian banks from using euros in any transactions or blocking Tehran's acquisition of material for liquefied natural gas production.
The Security Council is not expected to make any decision on sanctions before 2010, diplomats said. Talks could begin this year but could go on for weeks to months as China and Russia seek to counter stiff punishments against Iran, they said (Louis Charbonneau, Reuters, Nov. 19).
Mottaki today played down the threat of sanctions, Agence France-Presse reported.
"Sanctions was the literature of the '60s and the '70s," he said in the Philippines.
"Well, in the last four years they have the experience of doing so," Mottaki added. "And I think they are wise enough not to repeat failed experiences. Of course it's totally up to them."
Meanwhile, IAEA inspectors were expected today to make another visit to the recently disclosed and still-unfinished Iranian uranium enrichment site at Qum.
"It is a routine visit," one source told AFP.
Four agency officials inspected the facility on Oct. 25.
Uranium enrichment can be used to produce reactor fuel or nuclear-weapon material. Iran says its program is intended solely for civilian use, but the United States and other nations are skeptical of that claim.
"This site will, from now on, be under the IAEA. And for your information there will be tomorrow another inspection of this site in order to make sure that we are fully cooperating," Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's ambassador to the agency, said yesterday (Jay Deshmukh, Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Nov. 19).