UN: The five UN security council powers moved closer to an agreement yesterday on a statement that would call on Iran to suspend parts of its suspect nuclear programme that could be used to build weapons.
The five veto-holding nations, the US, Russia, Britain, France and China, were trying to complete a draft statement on Iran's nuclear programme ahead of a full council meeting later last night.
"We are not there yet, but I am quite confident that we will be soon," British ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said after a round of talks among the five nations.
Russian and Chinese envoys also expressed optimism but said they would check with their governments because differences still remained.
Britain and France, backed by the US, distributed a revised text late on Tuesday to all 15 security council members that made concessions to Russia and China.
But it still called on Iran to suspend uranium enrichment efforts, which the West believes are a cover for bomb-making.
"There are two or three areas which still need fine tuning," said China's UN ambassador, Wang Guangya. "But my feeling is that we are close." Russian and Chinese envoys said the main stumbling block was a provision saying the council was responsible for international peace and security. Both countries fear such a statement may later be used as a basis for tougher action against Iran, including sanctions.
Negotiations have stretched over three weeks on the statement, which is non-binding and threatens no punitive measures. But Russia, backed by China, is determined to prevent the possibility of future sanctions or other punitive measures against Iran.
Russia's representative, Konstantin Dolgov, said he still hoped for approval last night. If not, he said, the five might have to pass the issue to their foreign ministers who are scheduled to meet in Berlin today to discuss future strategy on Iran.
"We still think that we should not say anything in this text which could be misconstrued as the security council taking it over from the IAEA," said Mr Dolgov, in reference to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog.
The latest proposed statement modifies the previous language on peace and security. It also deletes specific charges and demands on Iran's nuclear programme and instead refers to resolutions of the IAEA board that mention them. Another change is a request that the IAEA's Mohamed ElBaradei report back on Iran's compliance within 30 days, instead of the 14 days in the original text.