The UN and Iran

[Al-khiyal]

Russia will seek the removal tonight of the core of a UK-sponsored draft United Nations resolution on Iran because it fears that it could pave the way to unilateral military action to curb the Iranian nuclear programme.

A bruising battle looms in New York at a dinner of foreign ministers of the five UN Security Council veto-holding members, plus Germany, over UN plans to compel Iran to abandon uranium enrichment. The high-stakes talks at the Waldorf hotel will be the first official duty for Margaret Beckett, who replaced Jack Straw as Foreign Secretary on Friday, and could result in an embarrassing climb-down for Britain.

British and US officials have said the core of the draft text is its placement under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which provides for possible sanctions and military enforcement.....

Russia says UN plan for Iran is 'first step to war'

[Al-khiyal]

China opposes Chapter 7 on Iran

[Al-khiyal]

The latest resolution to the United Nations on Tehran's nuclear weapons stance has burned the bridges on negotiations, but a diplomatic deal is still possible - if anyone wants it.

The draft resolution on Iran's nuclear activities that the United States, Britain and France presented to the United Nations Security Council this week is designed to fail.

By making it a Chapter Seven resolution (one that is mandatory under international law and can be enforced by sanctions or even by military action), the authors have guaranteed that it will ultimately face a veto by Russia and China, neither of which is convinced that such extreme measures are necessary.

They are not necessary, but this resolution burns the bridges on further negotiations (not that the U.S. was willing to talk directly to Iran anyway), and there have been heavy hints in Washington of military action against Iran.

If President George W. Bush follows the same path that he took into Iraq, a "failure to act" by the Security Council is the necessary preliminary to an attack on Iran.

Such an attack would make no military sense, but American foreign policy is still in the hands of neo-conservatives whose mantra used to be that "the boys go to Baghdad, the men go to Tehran......"

Raising the stakes on Iran

[Al-khiyal]

May 6th UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - France and Britain, the authors of a draft U.N. Security Council resolution ordering Iran to end its nuclear program, said after more council talks on Saturday that they hoped for a vote next week.

But the two European Union powers and the United States, which supports the Franco-British draft, acknowledged they made no headway during Saturday's discussions in resolving differences over the resolution's core provisions.

Many of the council's 15 members left the Saturday discussions acknowledging it would take a miracle to agree on a text before Monday's arrival in New York of foreign ministers of the council's five permanent members plus Germany......

UN eyes vote next week on Iran nuclear demand

[Al-khiyal]

Iran has reaffirmed on Sunday that the Islamic republic "will not halt" uranium enrichment.

Foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi warned the UN Security Council against passing a resolution calling for a halt of Iran's sensitive nuclear research.

"Any action by the Security Council will have a negative influence on our cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)," Asefi told a weekly press conference.

"Suspension and pause is not on the agenda at all, and the Security Council should not do something that will get it into trouble later on," he added.

He repeated the threat that Tehran would halt IAEA inspections if the UN Security Council adopted such a resolution.

"The involvement of the UN Security Council will direct the path of cooperation towards confrontation," said the spokesman......

Iran "will not halt" uranium enrichment: FM spokesman

The nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) has "no validity" if Iran's rights to carry out peaceful nuclear research were not accepted, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday.

"If the signature of a treaty threatens the rights of a nation, it has no validity for that nation," Ahmadinejad told a gathering of members of Iran's Basij militia, local media reported.

Top Iranian officials have expressed on several occasions that Iran would reconsider its nuclear policy if its rights to nuclear technology research were not accepted.

The hardline president made the remarks shortly after Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi said on Sunday that Tehran "will not halt" its uranium enrichment and would reject any resolution adopted by the UN Security Council on Iran's nuclear issue.....

Iran threatens not to recognize NPT if its rights not accepted

[Al-khiyal]

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ruled - and expressly told Revolutionary Guard commanders - that nuclear weapons are against Islam, and cannot be used in war even for self-defense. For all practical purposes - and with International Atomic Energy Agency confirmation - Tehran is pursuing a civilian nuclear program. Virtually the whole country is behind the theocratic nationalist regime in this effort.

Moreover, the regime knows that both China and Russia will oppose any excessive action by the administration of US President George W Bush. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said recently that both countries had "officially" informed Iran about "their opposition to sanctions and a military attack".

On Sunday, Iran's parliament threatened to force the government to withdraw its agreement to allow unannounced inspections of its nuclear facilities under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The move follows pressure from Washington and its allies for a binding United Nation Security Council resolution demanding that Tehran suspend its uranium-enrichment program.

The United States is behind attempts by Britain and France to draw up a UN resolution that would declare Iran in violation of international law if it does not suspend uranium enrichment. They want to invoke Chapter 7 of the UN Charter that would authorize economic sanctions or even military action. Russia and China, the other two permanent Security Council members, oppose such action.

Iran has important links with Moscow. The Russian-Iranian contract for the construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant was signed in 1995. Their geopolitical concerns in the Caucasus and Central Asia - to fight both US influence and Sunni fundamentalism - coincide. Iran is a preferential client of Russian weapons - including anti-aircraft systems capable of protecting Iran's nuclear installations from US strikes.....

Iran impasse: Make gas, not bombs

[Al-khiyal]

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has written to George W Bush proposing "new solutions" to their differences in the first letter from an Iranian leader to an American president in 27 years.....

Iran president sends letter to Bush