U.S., 5 Other Nations to Seek Tougher Sanctions Against Iran
WASHINGTON _ The five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany agreed Monday to seek a fourth round of sanctions against Iran after the Islamic Republic failed to accept an offer to resolve the crisis over its nuclear program, the State Department said.
Top diplomats from Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States made the decision in a telephone conference call after the weekend deadline given to Iran to respond to the offer expired.
“We are disappointed that we have not yet received a response from Iran,” State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said. “We have no choice but to pursue further measures against Iran.”
Gallegos said that Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili told European Union foreign-policy chief Javier Solana by telephone that Iran would give him a written response to the proposal Tuesday.
Under the “freeze for a freeze” proposal, which Solana presented to Jalili last month during talks in Geneva, the six world powers would hold off on pursuing further sanctions against Iran for six weeks in return for Iran freezing its uranium enrichment program for the same period.
The two sides then would discuss holding formal negotiations on the future of the Iranian nuclear program _ which the United States and its allies think is intended to produce nuclear weapons _ and a package of political, economic and security incentives being offered by the powers.
Iran says its nuclear program is for producing fuel for nuclear power plants, and it warned Monday that it could close the Persian Gulf to commercial traffic, a move that would send shipping insurance rates and oil prices skyrocketing.
The semi-official Iranian news agency Pars quoted Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as claiming that Iran has developed a new anti-ship missile with a range of more than 180 miles.
In the past, however, some similar Iranian claims have proved to be exaggerated, and last month Iranian photos of what it claimed was a simultaneous launch of four ballistic missiles turned out to have been doctored.
___
(c) 2008, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
Visit the McClatchy Washington Bureau on the World Wide Web at www.mcclatchydc.com.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.