IRAN will be referred to the United Nations Security Council within weeks after Europe’s three biggest powers and the United States agreed last night that two years of negotiations to end Tehran’s nuclear ambitions had reached a “dead end”.
The British, French and German foreign ministers agreed to call an emergency meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as soon as possible to have Iran referred.
Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, will meet his Russian counterpart in London early next week to seek Russia’s backing, the biggest hurdle in mustering international action against Iran.
“It is a matter of very great regret that Iran has decided to turn its back on negotiations” and that talks are “at an impasse”, Mr Straw said after meeting his two continental counterparts in Berlin.
The so-called E3 issued a joint statement recording their painstaking efforts to resolve the matter through diplomatic means, but concluded: “The Iranian Government now seems intent on turning its back on better relations with the international community . . . We believe the time has now come for the Security Council to become involved.”
Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German Foreign Minister, said: “Our talks with Iran have reached a dead end.”
Washington swiftly backed the Europeans’ call for Iran to be referred to the Security Council. Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, condemned Tehran’s “deliberate escalation” of the dispute and its “dangerous defiance of the entire international community”.
Dr Rice said last night that military action against Iran was not being considered “at this point”. “We are on a diplomatic track and it’s not on the agenda at this point to move from that diplomatic track,” she said.
Tehran remained defiant. President Ahmadinejad said that Iran would press on with its nuclear programme, insisting that it was for peaceful purposes only.
Gholamreza Rahmani-Fazli, the deputy secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said: “We are not worried about our nuclear case being sent to the [UN] Security Council.”
However, Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, said that Ali Larijani, Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, told him that Tehran was interested in “serious and constructive negotiations” with Britain, France and Germany. Mr Larijani said that Iran wanted to resume talks, but this time with a deadline.
The E3 acted after Iran on Tuesday broke UN seals on research sites, which it had closed two years ago in a deal with the European Union and the IAEA. The US and EU suspect that Iran’s research into nuclear power conceals military ambitions, which Tehran denies.
European officials are privately confident that a majority of members of the IAEA’s executive board — 21 or 22 out of 35 — will back them in referring Iran to the UN. Russia “has not yet made its final decision but they are very frustrated by their exchanges with Iran”, one senior British official said. He doubted that Russia would block a referral even if it did not actually vote for it.
But there is less confidence that the Security Council — which includes Russia and China — will support tough action against Iran.
Russia presents the greatest barrier, as it has close ties with Iran and is helping it to build its first nuclear reactor at Bushehr. But Moscow has been frustrated by Iran’s reluctance to accept the compromise it offered: supplying it with nuclear fuel, allowing it to run power stations but keep weapons technology out of reach.
Yesterday, in its sharpest condemnation yet, Russia said that Iran’s behaviour was “feeding suspicions” that it wanted to build nuclear weapons.
Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, said that Iran must reimpose its moratorium on nuclear research. “In the absence of such a decision, we will find it very difficult to continue our efforts,” he said.
US and EU ministers believe that if Russia comes on board, China will not want to be the only leading power defending Iran, even though it has signed big oil contracts with Iran.
Western governments have yet to agree what form the pressure on Iran should take. Nicholas Burns, the US Under-Secretary of State, will visit London, Paris and Berlin next week to agree a strategy.
The US, Iran’s most aggressive critic, may ask the Security Council to back commercial sanctions, including a refusal to sell it parts for its oil and gas industry. That could include a ban on oil and gas sales. A milder option would be a ban on Iran taking part in sports contests. But it would be a heavy blow in a country that adores sport, particularly football.
But one British official said that EU countries wanted “to start with political steps, without sanctions”. He said the Council might make mandatory the demand that Iran refrain from uranium enrichment.
WIELDING THE BIG STICK: SANCTIONS AROUND THE WORLD
CUBA
The US has applied an economic, commercial and financial embargo since 1962, despite UN condemnation
SOUTH AFRICA
In 1962 the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 1761 condemning apartheid policies. In 1976 a UN convention came into force allowing member states legally to apply sanctions to urge South Africa to change its apartheid policy, right. The sanctions hit hard in the 1980s, causing the rand to collapse and a state of emergency was declared in 1985, lasting for five years
RHODESIA
Ian Smith declared the country independent from Britain in 1965, but faced international condemnation. Rhodesia was placed under the first UN Security Council-authorised sanctions, which began in 1965 and remained until its independence as Zimbabwe in 1980
IRAQ
Economic sanctions were imposed by the UN after the 1990 invasion of Kuwait. A compromise was agreed in 1995 with the Security Council that became the now infamous Oil-for-Food programme
