WarSclerotic

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a Senate committee earlier Tuesday that the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – Britain, China, France, Russia and the US – and Germany would

send a new draft sanctions resolution to the entire council later that day, capping months of diplomatic maneuvering and painstaking negotiations.

The invitation to all council members did not specify what the debate would focus on, calling it only an “informal consultation”, but UN diplomats confirmed that the council would indeed discuss Clinton’s resolution.

Clinton’s announcement to a Senate committee came just one day after Iran, Brazil and Turkey said they had agreed on a plan for Iran to swap nuclear materials.

Many believed the last-minute agreement would blunt the US-led drive for a fourth round of UN penalties on Iran, but Clinton said the agreement on a new resolution by the major powers was a rejection of Iran’s efforts to forestall penalties.

“This announcement is as convincing an answer to the efforts undertaken by Tehran over the last few days as any we could provide,” Clinton told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“We don’t believe it was any accident that Iran agreed to this declaration as we were preparing to move forward in New York,” she said. “With all due respect to my Turkish and Brazilian friends, the fact that we had Russia on board, we had China on board and that we were moving early this week, namely today, to share the text of that resolution put pressure on Iran which they were trying to somehow dissipate.”

‘Iran’s leap forward should be appreciated’

US and European officials had reacted skeptically to the Brazilian-Turkish-brokered proposal, warning it still allows Iran to keep enriching uranium toward the pursuit of a nuclear weapon. The deal was concluded during a visit to Tehran by Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva who has fought against a new round of sanctions.

Both Silva and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was also in Tehran for the announcement, have urged the international community to support the deal.

“Historically it has been shown that those imposing sanctions are usually the ones violating the sanctions,” Erdogan told reporters on the sidelines of a European Union meeting in Madrid on Tuesday. “I think Iran has taken a leap forward. Now it’s in a very positive situation which should be appreciated by the international players.”

But Clinton repeated the US skepticism about the agreement, saying “there are a number of unanswered questions regarding the announcement coming from Tehran.”

“While we acknowledge the sincere efforts of both Turkey and Brazil to find a solution regarding Iran’s standoff with the international community over its nuclear program, we are proceeding to rally the international community on behalf of a strong sanctions resolution that will in our view send an unmistakable message about what is expected from Iran,” Clinton said.

Yitzhak Benhorin contributed to this report