The consultation among the six major countries on the elements
of a new Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on Iran
made little progress on Tuesday, diplomats said.
Ambassadors of the six countries of the United States, Russia,
China, Britain, France and Germany huddled behind closed doors at
the United Nations Tuesday afternoon to continue their discussion
of elements of a new sanctions draft resolution.
"We have good discussion on general elements and approach," US
Ambassador Alejandro Daniel Wolff told reporters after the meeting.
"We remain committed to the early adoption of the resolution."
British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry stressed that the diplomatic
solution is still possible as long as Iran agreed to go back to the
negotiations.
"The diplomatic door is open but it is very much down to the
government in Tehran," he told reporters, adding "we are on train
talking about language. We don't yet have a text, but we have been
looking at elements."
Meanwhile, Parry also said that the new draft resolution will
not be distributed until the governments of the six countries
reached agreement on the elements.
Diplomats who said on condition of anonymity told Xinhua that no
obvious progress has been made during the latest talks. He said
that the issue of elements may be referred to the capitals of the
six countries.
The new resolution will, in accordance with the current
elements, impose more severe sanctions on Iran in terms of travel
ban, embargo of arms imports and exports, and stiffer economic
sanctions including a ban on export guarantees to Iran.
Meanwhile, Iran on Tuesday denied comments from the UN atomic
agency chief that Tehran had casually slowed down the uranium
enrichment activities, saying no change has been made.
"There has been no change in Iran's legitimate activities aimed
at producing fuel, it's continuing its natural trend," Foreign
Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told a press conference.
Iran's state atomic energy organization also stressed Tuesday
that "as planned, our enrichment activities in Natanz is
continuing", the official IRNA news agency reported.
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Chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei
has said in Vienna on Monday that it seemed Iran had casually
suspended its enrichment work.
Uranium enrichment work is the key process for nuclear fuel
production, or nuclear weapon. The United States, along with some
other Western countries, has been accusing Iran of seeking to
develop nuclear weapons under the cover of civilian nuclear
programs.
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Tehran has rejected such allegations, saying that its nuclear
programs are designed for peaceful use of nuclear energy.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Feb. 22 in
the report filed in Vienna to the IAEA's 35-nation board of
governors and the UN Security Council that "Iran has not suspended
its enrichment-related activities."
The UN Security Council passed a resolution on Dec. 23, 2006
demanding that Iran suspend uranium enrichment in 60 days. However,
Iran has failed to do so and claimed its nuclear program is for
civilian purposes only.
(Xinhua News Agency March 7, 2007)
