U.S. to Press for UN Action on Iran as Early as Today
By: Administrative Account | Source: Bloomberg
May 3, 2006 6:34AM EST

May 3 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S., U.K. and France will move as early as today for adoption of a United Nations resolution demanding that Iran halt its nuclear program, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said. ``We are going to move ahead very quickly,'' Bolton told reporters at the UN late yesterday. ``We will give the Iranians a relatively short period of time to comply.'' The resolution, replicating a Security Council statement adopted March 29, would have authority under Chapter 7 of the UN's Charter that makes compliance mandatory, Bolton said. Chapter 7 authorizes measures ranging from economic and diplomatic sanctions to the use of armed force. Such sanctions would require the passage of a separate resolution. The U.S. will try to assemble a coalition outside the UN to impose sanctions on Iran should the Security Council veto any sanctions measure, Bolton told a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee yesterday. ``If for whatever reason the council couldn't fulfill its responsibilities, then I think it would be incumbent on us -- and I'm sure we would press ahead -- to ask other countries or other groups of countries to impose those sanctions,'' he said. Any proposed UN sanctions resolution wouldn't affect Iran's sales of oil and gas, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns said yesterday in Paris, where he discussed the nuclear dispute with delegates from the U.K., France, China and Russia. A German delegation joined the representatives from the five permanent members of the Security Council. Iran is the world's fourth-largest oil producer. The U.S. suspects Iran plans to build a nuclear bomb, a violation of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, while Iran says its program is for generating electricity. Further Enrichment Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, said in Tehran yesterday that his scientists have further increased their production of enriched uranium, achieving a concentration of 4.8 percent. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran had joined the ``nuclear club'' on April 9 by enriching uranium to 3.5 percent. International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei on April 28 confirmed that Iran had enriched uranium to 3.6 percent by April 16 and showed no sign of halting the nuclear program. A concentration of 3 to 5 percent is needed to fuel a power plant, while 90 percent is required for a weapon, according to the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research in Maryland. ``Enrichment of more than 5 percent is not part of Iran's program,'' Aghazadeh told ISNA. ``This level of enrichment for producing nuclear fuel is sufficient.'' UN Message The U.S. wants to see a ``stiff message'' adopted by the Security Council and there is some agreement among the panel's permanent members on the proposed measure, Burns said. ``We all agreed on the need for a strong UN Security Council response after ElBaradei's report,'' Burns said, referring to ElBaradei's account of Iran's failure to comply with the March 29 statement. ``We all agreed Iran's nuclear program should be suspended. There can be no more business as usual.'' Jean-Marc de La Sabliere, France's ambassador to the UN, said the resolution should require compliance within a maximum of 30 days. ``It should not be too long,'' de La Sabliere told reporters in New York. Burns said U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and foreign ministers from the other five permanent members of the Security Council will meet May 8 in the U.S. to discuss the issue. Iran ignored an April 28 deadline set by the Security Council to halt enrichment activities and adhere to all IAEA regulations. Iran's parliament agreed to allocate an additional $212 million to finish the construction of the country's first nuclear plant, in Bushehr, state-run Iran News reported yesterday.

To contact the reporters on this story: Bill Varner in United Nations at wvarner@bloomberg.net; Ladane Nasseri in Tehran at lnasseri@bloomberg.net Last Updated: May 3, 2006 04:49 EDT