Iran faces tough new sanctions after six world powers agreed to draft a fresh UN Security Council resolution in response to Tehran's failure to halt its nuclear programme, writes Denis Stauntonin Washington.
The move by the security council's five permanent members and Germany came amid reports that US defence officials are developing a plan to bomb Iran that could be implemented within 24 hours.
The US state department said the new sanctions, which could include a travel ban on senior Iranian officials and an end to export credits for firms that do business with Iran, would have a gradual impact.
"I would expect the nature of the resolution to be incremental. This is designed to gradually increase, proportionally increase pressure on Tehran," said spokesman Sean McCormack.
The six powers' decision to draft a new UN resolution came at a meeting in London yesterday to discuss Iran's failure to meet a deadline last week for suspending its uranium enrichment programme. Tehran insists its nuclear programme is aimed solely at developing nuclear energy but the security council last December ordered Iran to halt enrichment and allow UN inspectors to examine all its nuclear facilities.
The UN's nuclear watchdog agency reported last week that Iran had failed to halt enrichment and had expanded its nuclear programme.
British diplomat John Sawers, who chaired yesterday's meeting, said that the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany had started work on a new UN resolution. "We also considered how best to re-engage with Iran. We are all committed to seeking a negotiated solution," he said.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday criticised Washington's bellicose statements on Iran and expressed concern that "forecasts and suppositions of a possible attack on Iran" by the US have become more frequent.
Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh reported in the New Yorker this week that a new planning group in the office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has been charged with developing a bombing plan that could be implemented within 24 hours of getting the go-ahead from President George Bush. Mr Hersh also claimed that US military and special-operations teams have already crossed the border from Iraq into Iran in pursuit of Iranian operatives.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman described the report as "misleading and mischievous" but stopped short of contradicting any of Mr Hersh's assertions. "The United States is not planning to go to war with Iran. To suggest anything to the contrary is simply wrong, misleading and mischievous. The United States has been very clear with respect to its concerns regarding specific Iranian government activities. The president has repeatedly stated publicly that this country is going to work with allies in the region to address those concerns through diplomatic efforts," Mr Whitman said.
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad faced sharp criticism at home yesterday from conservatives and reformers alike after he described Iran's nuclear programme as an unstoppable train without brakes.
"The train of the Iranian nation is without brakes and a rear gear . . . We dismantled the reverse gear and brakes of the train and threw them away some time ago," Mr Ahmadinejad told clerics on Sunday.
The conservative daily Resalat criticised the president's "unnecessarily offensive language" as unacceptable in foreign policy.
"Our foreign policy must reflect the ancient Iranian civilization and rich Islamic culture of the Iranian nation. Therefore, delicacy . . . rich diplomatic language and non-primitive policies must be part of a calculated combination to work," it said.
Mr McCormack suggested yesterday that limited economic sanctions against Iran implemented in December had fuelled internal criticism of the Iranian president.