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Britain, France introduce Iran resolution

(AP)
Updated: 2006-05-04 11:26

Iran had no immediate reaction to the draft, but it remained defiant to earlier U.N. demands that it suspend enrichment. Nuclear chief Gholamreza Aghazadeh said Wednesday his nation had enriched uranium to the upper end of the range needed to make fuel for reactors, further defying U.N. demands. Iran announced April 11 it had enriched uranium for the first time.

The resolution is the latest move in weeks of negotiation over how to confront suspicions about Iran's nuclear program, which Tehran insists is for peaceful purposes. The United States and France accuse the country of secretly trying to build nuclear weapons.

Last month, the Security Council issued a nonbinding statement that Iran comply with previous demands to abandon enrichment. That statement asked for a report from the director-general of the

International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, in 30 days on Iran's compliance. The IAEA is the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog.

As had been widely expected, ElBaradei issued a report Friday saying Iran had not complied, laying the groundwork for Wednesday's resolution.

The new document calls on Iran to stop construction of a heavy-water reactor and demands that nations "exercise vigilance" in blocking the transfer of goods and technology that could help Iran's uranium reprocessing and missile programs.

The resolution was written under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which makes any demands mandatory and allows for the use of sanctions — and possibly force — if they are not obeyed. Any sanctions would require another resolution.

Ambassadors said the Chapter 7 element was the core of the resolution, suggesting that other language, like the threat of further measures and blocking technology transfers, could be scrapped.

"On the strategic objective, there's nothing between the six of us. We do not want to see an Iran with a nuclear weapon capability," Britain's Ambassador Emyr Jones-Parry said. "On the detail of the resolution, there have been exchanges of views and those will continue."