Diplomats push for Iran deal

Western powers stepped up negotiations with Russia and China today on confronting Iran’s nuclear programme, in a last push to reach a deal before their foreign ministers meet to discuss the issue in less than 24 hours.

Britain and France circulated a new proposed statement on Iran last night that made several concessions to Russia and China, which fear that even modest action by the council now could lead to tougher measures such as sanctions later on.

The statement, which would not be legally binding, demands that Iran stop uranium enrichment, a process that can lead to making a nuclear bomb.

The United States and its western allies suspect Iran is seeking nuclear weapons, a charge denied by Tehran.

China’s Ambassador Wang Guangya said Beijing wasn’t entirely happy with the latest text but told reporters later: “My feeling is that we are close.”

The full Security Council planned to convene later today to consider the text. If there is agreement among the five veto-wielding members of the council - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States – the others will likely agree.

The council has struggled for three weeks to come up with a written rebuke that would urge Iran to comply with demands from the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, that it suspend uranium enrichment.

But even though the statement is not legally enforceable, the talks have been extremely sensitive because of the statement’s larger significance.

The West believes council action will help isolate Iran and put new pressure on it to clear up suspicions about its intentions. They have proposed an incremental approach, refusing to rule out sanctions.

US officials have said the threat of military action must also remain on the table.

Russia and China, both allies of Iran, oppose sanctions. They want any council statement to make explicit that the IAEA, not the Security Council, must take the lead in confronting Iran.

Britain, France and the United States want the council statement out of the way before their foreign ministers, as well as Germany’s meet in Berlin tomorrow to discuss strategy toward Iran.

A meeting of the five veto-wielding members of the council this morning was the fourth in less than 24 hours, and more talks were planned later in the day.

“It’s possible that we could do it today,” US Ambassador John Bolton said. “That certainly would be our objective, to clear the table for the ministers to allow them to focus on the long range.”

In Moscow today, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov repeated his stance that Moscow would not support the use of force to solve the Iranian nuclear problem.

“As many of our European and Chinese colleagues have stated more than once, any ideas involving the use of force or pressure in resolving the issue are counterproductive and cannot be supported,” Lavrov said.

Iran, which insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, released a statement through its embassy in Moscow yesterday warning that Security Council intervention would “escalate tensions, entailing negative consequences that would be of benefit to no party.”