Stewart Stogel
Saturday, March 31, 2007

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The Security Council "statement" criticizing Iran's continued "detention" of 15 British Royal Navy sailors is only the first step in what may turn into a major diplomatic attack by London, say U.N. diplomats.

The watered-down statement, unexpectedly accepted by British Ambassador to the U.N. Sir Emyr Jones Parry late Thursday, while criticizing the Iranian move, only demanded immediate access to the soldiers by British consular officials.

It did not address the claims and counter-claims about whether the Royal Navy violated Iran's territorial waters.

However, on Monday, the UK assumes the monthly rotating presidency of the Security Council, followed by the United States in May.

During April, London will be able to control the Council's "program of work," putting itself in a central position to use the U.N. body to exert even more diplomatic pressure on Tehran.

The feeling among Council diplomats was that the Thursday statement on Iran was approved by the British not so much for what it said, but more for use as a "springboard" for harsher measures should they be needed while it chairs the U.N. body.

Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton again told Fox News on Friday that the U.N. "must move beyond press statements."

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Bolton told FNC that a second video of a British sailor "admitting" trespassing into Iranian waters was yet "another example" of Iran's defiance of international laws.

While the issue of additional sanctions on the Islamic Republic has not yet been discussed inside the Security Council, it may, should the standoff continue well into April.

It is no secret that the White House intends to make Iran the number one issue if the crisis has not been resolved by May.

By that time, the new U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Zalmy Khalilzad will have assumed his new duties in NYC.

Khalilzad comes to the United Nations fresh off his assignment as the U.S. ambassador to Iraq.

It is expected that the Afghan native will aggressively push the Council to move on Iran if an agreement with London has not been achieved.

As if to acknowledge the criticality of the next two months, Tehran has temporarily "suspended" its decision to "retire" current U.N. ambassador Javad Zarif.

Zarif, a veteran career diplomat and a political "moderate" who has been at the U.N. since 2002, had been scheduled to retire in February.

© NewsMax 2007. All rights reserved.

Editor's note:
Can America avoid a nuclear ‘D-Day'? Get the INSIDE story – Click Here Now.
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