• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Russia rejects UN sanctions against Iran

Posted on: Friday, 25 August 2006, 10:50 CDT

By Ron Popeski

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia rejected on Friday any talk for now of sanctions against Iran and France warned against conflict with Tehran, raising doubts whether it will face swift penalties for not halting nuclear work by an August 31 deadline.

Responding to an offer of economic incentives to stop enriching uranium, Iran hinted to six world powers on Tuesday it could rein in its program as a result of talks to implement the package -- but not as a precondition as they demand.

The reply seemed tailored to crack the brittle united front of four Western powers and Russia and China who agreed to the U.N. deadline. The West sees Iran's nuclear drive as a threat to peace. Russia and China are unconvinced.

"I know of no instances in world practice and previous experience in which sanctions have achieved their aim and proved effective," Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told reporters during a trip to Russia's far east.

"Moreover, I believe that the question is not so serious at the moment for the U.N. Security Council or the group of six to consider any introduction of sanctions. Russia stands for further political and diplomatic efforts to settle the issue."

Ivanov is seen as close to President Vladimir Putin.

The United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China engineered a Security Council resolution telling Iran to suspend nuclear enrichment by August 31 or risk sanctions.

U.S., French and German leaders said Iran's 21-page response to the incentives offer was unsatisfactory because it did not specifically agree to stop purifying uranium.

Washington has said the six powers will move quickly to adopt sanctions if Iran disregards the deadline. But Britain, Germany and France have been less conclusive in public.

Russia and China, both trade partners of Iran, have been unwilling and could veto sanctions in the Council.

French President Jacques Chirac, speaking after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Paris, said Iran's response was "ambiguous."

"For the moment, it (the Iranian response) is not satisfactory," French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said on RTL radio, but added it was important to avoid escalating conflict with Iran and the Muslim world.

NO "CONFRONTATION"

"The worst thing would be to escalate into a confrontation (between the West and) Iran on the one hand, and the Muslim world with Iran. That would be the clash of civilizations that France today is practically alone in trying to avoid," he said.

U.S. and British forces that overthrew Iraq's Saddam Hussein in 2003 are now mired in an Islamist insurgency. Israel recently waged an inconclusive war with Lebanon's Hizbollah guerrillas. Both conflicts are widely seen to have strengthened Iran.

Bloodshed between Israel and the Palestinians under an Islamist Hamas government festers on.

British U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said: "On Iran, I don't think I would expect very much imminently in the Council."

He told reporters in New York that the Council was awaiting a U.N. nuclear watchdog report due on August 31 that will certify whether Iran has stopped enrichment-related activity or not.

"Once we get that, we then need to discuss the way forward. But we need to give a measured consideration to what has been sent to us by Iran -- quite clearly something which is short of what the Council is looking for," he said.

"So we need to think carefully about how we respond to that," he added, pointedly dodging comment when asked whether London was working on a sanctions resolution.

Some analysts believe Arab and Muslim world anger over Washington's perceived slowness to curb Israel's anti-Hizbollah blitz, which killed mainly civilians, could erode support in the 15-member Security Council for a showdown with Iran.

Iran says it wants nuclear energy solely for its economy. Western leaders suspect a disguised effort to build atom bombs, although most analysts believe Tehran remains 3-10 years away from mastering the requisite technology.

Mark Fitzpatrick at the International Institute for Strategic Studies said Russia's stance seemed to contradict the intention of the Council resolution.

"I'm sure there will be high-level talks on whether there is some formula regarding sequencing of suspension" based on Iran's hint it could stop enrichment as the upshot of incentives talks.

"The question is whether there is a basis to fudge the sequencing -- that is, Iran commits to suspension after a very short time period of negotiations. I don't know if that would be enough for (the West)," he said.

(Additional reporting by Mark Heinrich in Vienna, Anna Willard in Paris and Irwin Arieff at the United Nations)

Source: REUTERS

More News in this Category