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French: Six Powers Near Nuclear Resolution on Iran NewsMax.com Wires PARIS -- The six powers seeking a U.N. resolution to punish Iran for its nuclear program are nearing agreement on a text, France's foreign minister said Monday. High-ranking diplomats from the U.N. Security Council's five permanent members plus Germany will meet Tuesday in Paris to discuss imposing penalties on Iran for refusing to stop uranium enrichment. "I think that we should now reach agreement on this," Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said in Brussels. He gave no details of the possible text, but indicated progress had been made in his talks in Brussels on Monday with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov. "We are in agreement with Russia to adopt sanctions against Iran's proliferation program, that is to say the sensitive nuclear activities and the ballistic missile program. ... We want to reach as broad an agreement as possible in the U.N. Security Council," Douste-Blazy said. The Security Council has been at odds over how to deal with Iran's defiance of an Aug. 31 U.N. deadline to halt uranium enrichment. The Europeans and Americans want tough sanctions. Russia and China have pushed for dialogue instead, despite the failure of a EU effort to bring the Iranians to the negotiating table. On Friday, Lavrov reaffirmed Russia's readiness to back a U.N. ban on exports of nuclear materials and sensitive technologies to Iran, but said U.S.-proposed sanctions were "too tough." Story Continues Below
A European draft U.N. resolution in October would order all countries to ban the supply of materials and technology that could contribute to Iran's nuclear and missiles programs. It would also impose a travel ban and asset freeze on companies, individuals and organizations involved in those programs. The draft would exempt a nuclear power plant being built by the Russians at Bushehr in Iran, but not the nuclear fuel needed for the reactor. Russia want to scratch any travel ban, asset freeze, or mention of Bushehr. They proposed major changes that would limit sanctions solely to measures that would keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. "We have taken the Russian amendments into consideration," Douste-Blazy said. "We want to reaffirm the unity of the international community. We are trying to find a plan that is both firm and effective." A representative of EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana was expected to join Tuesday's talks in Paris with political directors of the foreign ministries of Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, plus Germany, "for an update on the Iranian nuclear file," French Foreign Ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei told reporters Monday. No other details of the meeting were immediately available. Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said Friday that he didn't expect the Iran resolution to make its way back to New York for discussion until at least Dec. 11. In Brussels, Nicholas Burns, U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, said it was time to send a strong message to Tehran that "we're all unhappy with Iran." "We just wish the Iranian government would stop developing nuclear weapons, supporting . . . terrorist groups in the Middle East and destabilizing Lebanon," said Burns, who will represent the United States at the meeting. "We stand for peace and overcoming divisions in the Middle East and Iran stands for disrupting everything through the barrel of the gun."
© 2006 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Editor's note: Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
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