New York, May 19 (DPA) The US said Tuesday that new sanctions against Iran would target the country’s banking system, the Revolutionary Guards, cargo shipping and imports of conventional arms.
Details of the new draft were revealed to UN Security Council members at UN headquarters in New York, within hours of US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s announcement in Washington that the text had the agreement of the permanent members and Germany.
Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters that his government has not signed onto the text, though Moscow can live with the language of the measure.
“Russia is not a co-sponsor of this resolution. It’s in the hands of the sponsor,” Churkin said.
He said the US alone decided to present the draft to the council Tuesday, and it was not Russia’s decision.
“We are comfortable with the language in the draft,” Churkin said. “It’s a language we can live with.”
The permanent members – the US, Russia, China, France and Britain – plus Germany are known as five-plus-one (P5 plus one), a grouping that had been trying to settle Iran’s nuclear dispute.
US Ambassador Susan Rice said the new sanctions built on the three previous rounds of sanctions adopted since 2006 and will have “teeth” as punitive measures against Iran’s refusal to halt its nuclear activities, which are suspected to be developing nuclear weapons.
“The US has just tabled in consultations a draft resolution on sanctions against Iran,” Rice told reporters. “It’s a text that reflects an agreement among the P5 plus one, and we just had a useful meeting.”
Rice said the draft will “increase the cost to Iran’s leadership for its continued defiance, and to persuade Iran that it is in its interests to peacefully resolve concerns over its nuclear programme.”
She said the door remains open for a diplomatic solution if Iran chooses to live up to its nuclear obligations.
Rice cited new categories of sanctions including a demand for suspension of nuclear activities and “broad-based measures targeting pressure points associated with Iran’s nuclear proliferation activities”.
The sanctions would ban Iran’s nuclear activities abroad and put binding new restrictions on imports of conventional arms and on all activities related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, and impose a comprehensive cargo inspection framework to deter smuggling of weapons.
The draft would call on UN members to take appropriate measures that prohibit “the opening of new branches, subsidiaries or representative offices of Iranian banks” if they are suspected of links with nuclear proliferation.
The draft calls for vigilance on transactions involving Iranian banks, including the Central Bank of Iran, in order to prevent transactions related to the proliferation of sensitive nuclear activities.
The French and British ambassadors welcomed the US draft. British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said the draft was “balanced”, aiming at Iran’s dual-use materials in its nuclear programme, which can either be used for civilian or military purposes.
“We are trying to move on with the draft resolution as soon as possible,” Grant told reporters.
China’s UN Ambassador Li Baotong did not specifically support the draft sanctions. “It does not mean that the doors for a diplomatic solution is closed,” he said. “Diplomacy is the best way to address Iran’s nuclear issue.”
Li praised Brazil and Turkey for their “very good initiative” in working out a deal to ship Iran’s low-enriched uranium to Turkey in return for civilian nuclear fuel.
The US draft was handed to the council’s 10 elected members, but none of them made comment following the closed-door meeting. It was not known when the council would resume discussion on the draft sanctions.
