Govt seeks high-level meeting on Iran nuclear plans

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Washington is trying to arrange
a meeting of foreign ministers of the five permanent members of
the Security Council plus Germany in New York on May 9 to
discuss Iran’s nuclear program, Chinese and U.S. diplomats said
on Thursday.

The meeting of the U.S., Russian, Chinese, French, British
and German ministers would take place on the sidelines of an
already scheduled U.N. meeting of the quartet of Middle East
mediators, Ambassador John Bolton and Chinese Ambassador Wang
Guangya told Reuters.

“They are talking about it. It’s possible on the sidelines
of the quartet,” Bolton said.

The quartet of the United States, Russia, the European
Union and the United Nations had already planned to meet in New
York on May 9 to discuss updating the group’s 2003 road map to
a Middle East peace, widely believed to have been left in
tatters by the latest developments in the region.

Senior officials of the five permanent veto-wielding
council members — and Germany have been meeting regularly in
recent months to discuss strategy on Iran and its nuclear
ambitions.

In Washington, a State Department official, speaking on
condition of anonymity because Washington had not publicly
announced the proposal, said such a meeting was being explored
but might never take place.

A final decision would depend on ministers’ schedules and
the outcome of earlier meetings on Iran’s nuclear ambitions,
the official said.

Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the U.N. nuclear
watchdog, the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency,
was due to submit a report to the Security Council on Friday on
Iranian compliance with a March council statement calling on
Tehran to suspend its nuclear program.

Iranian officials have made no secret of their decision to
reject the council demands, opening the way for possible
additional council action.

Western powers are pushing for a Security Council
resolution that would turn demands in the earlier council
statement on Iran into a legally binding measure under Chapter
7 of the U.N. Charter.

China, Russia and Qatar, the council’s sole Arab member,
have been hesitant in the past to support a Chapter 7
resolution for fear it could lay the groundwork for sanctions
or even military action.

This time around, China and Russia may be persuaded not to
veto such a resolution if it did not overtly threaten sanctions
or military action, several council diplomats said in recent
days.