World powers agree on new sanctions against Iran
Six world powers today reached an agreement on a package of new sanctions against Iran including an embargo on arms exports and financial restrictions on more individuals and companies associated with Tehran’s nuclear and missile programmes, many linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
The governments of the five permanent Security Council nations – the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France – and Germany gave a green light to the draft resolution hammered out by their ambassadors. It will now be presented to the 10 non-permanent Security Council nations who have been left out of negotiations.
“We have an agreement and I will introduce a text on behalf of the six,” Britain’s UN Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said after a meeting of ambassadors from the six countries. “It’s a text which is our suggestions. It’s not take it or leave it.”
The non-permanent council members, who are elected for two-year terms, will need time to consider the text and the current council president, South Africa’s UN Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, said today, “We anticipate that the voting would happen maybe well into next week.”
But the agreement by the five veto-wielding permanent members will be a strong signal of the unity of the key nations on the UN’s most powerful body – and a sign that they want to send a united message to Iran to suspend uranium enrichment.
In December, the Security Council voted unanimously to impose limited sanctions against Iran for its refusal to freeze uranium enrichment. It ordered all countries to stop supplying Iran with materials and technology that could contribute to its nuclear and missile programs and to freeze assets of 10 key Iranian companies and 12 individuals related to those programs.
The council said it would consider further non-military sanctions if Iran refused to suspend enrichment. Iran’s response was to accelerate its enrichment program.
The modest package of new measures in the new draft would freeze the assets of 10 additional individuals and 8 additional entities, according to a council diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the annex to the draft resolution with the names was not released.
Seven of the individuals are members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and three of the organisations are affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, which oversees vital Iranian interests, including oil and natural gas installations and the nation’s missile arsenal, the diplomat said.
Under the draft, Iran would be banned from supplying, selling or transferring “any arms or related material” and all countries would be prohibited from buying Iranian weapons.
The proposed resolution does not ban arms imports to Iran, but calls on all nations “to exercise vigilance and restraint” in supplying tanks, combat aircraft and other heavy weapons.
In the financial area, it calls on all governments and financial institutions not to make any new commitments “of grants, financial assistance, or concessional loans” to the Iranian government.
There is no travel ban, but all countries would be asked to exercise “vigilance and restraint” on the entry or transit through their territory of the individuals whose assets have been frozen. The draft would also require all countries to report the transit or entry of any of these people to the Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against Iran.
