West softens UN draft on Iran

WORLD / Top News

 West softens UN draft on Iran
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-03-29 09:33

Western powers softened a draft U.N. Security Council statement on
Tuesday on reining in Iran's nuclear ambitions in hopes of reaching a
deal this week.

Still, the new draft retains calls on Tehran to suspend
uranium-enrichment efforts, a process that can produce fuel necessary for
making a nuclear bomb.

The text deletes language on several specific demands. Instead it refers
only to the number of the resolution that contained them and was adopted
by the International Atomic Energy Agency board in Vienna, the U.N.
nuclear watchdog.

Britain and France, authors of the draft backed by the United States,
distributed the document, their third revision, to the full 15-nation
U.N. Security Council for discussion on Wednesday, three weeks after
talks began.

"We have reached agreement on the bulk of the text, so there was movement
on all sides, and now we need to see whether we can cross this last
bridge but we're very close," U.S. Ambassador John Bolton told reporters.

Ambassadors from the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China,
permanent council members with veto power, met three times on Tuesday on
the Iran research programs, which Tehran says are for peaceful purposes
but the West believes are a cover for atomic-bomb making.

Bolton and British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said there were still one
or two issues outstanding.

The main one was a provision that referred to weapons of mass destruction
as a threat to international peace and security. Russia believes this
could be a prelude to harsher punishment, diplomats said.

But Moscow has not yet agreed to the new language in Tuesday's draft.
This recalls its (the Security Council's) primary responsibility for the
maintenance of international peace and security, Russia said,

Somewhat exasperated, Bolton said, "I am confident that the Security
Council, under the (U.N.) Charter, has a responsibility for the
maintenance of international peace and security, and I am not worried
about saying it."

"We have been incredibly flexible. Incredibly flexible. I probably have
never been more flexible," Bolton said.

Another unsolved issue, China said, was the how long the director of the
IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei had to report to the council on whether Iran had
complied with its demands.

The original text said 14 days while the new text refers to 30 days.
Russia had proposed until June. China's U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya told
reporters the timeline had not been agreed yet.

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