WarSclerotic

The agreement appeared to be a significant victory for the Obama administration, which has doggedly pursued sanctions since Iran rebuffed US overtures last year.

The draft resolution, obtained by The Associated Press, would ban Iran from pursuing “any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons,” freeze assets of nuclear-related companies linked to the Revolutionary Guard, bar Iranian investment in activities such as uranium mining and prohibit Iran from buying several categories of heavy weapons.

US Ambassador Susan Rice said the resolution, backed by all five veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council, would give “greater teeth” to existing sanctions and add “strong” new measures to intensify pressure on the Iranian government to resolve concerns that its nuclear program is peaceful and not aimed at producing nuclear weapons.

Russia and China join in

Russia and China, which have close ties to Iran, joined fellow permanent council members Britain, France and the United States as well as non-member Germany in supporting the sanctions proposal, ignoring a deal that Teheran struck with Turkey and Brazil a day earlier in an effort to stave off the penalties.

China’s UN Ambassador Li Baodong reiterated Beijing’s commitment to pressure and talks, saying “we believe that circulating this draft resolution does not mean the door for diplomacy is closed.”

The draft resolution stresses the willingness of the five permanent council members “to further enhance diplomatic efforts to promote dialogue and consultations … without preconditions.”

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told a Senate committee that she spent Tuesday on the phone with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov “finalizing the resolution.”

Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the final draft is acceptable because it is “focused adequately on nonproliferation matters” and doesn’t cause “humanitarian damage” or create problems for normal economic activities in Iran and the country’s economic relations with other countries.

Targeting the nuclear program

Rice said the pursuit of new sanctions has nothing to do with the proposed swap of nuclear material for Teheran’s research reactor that Iran agreed to Monday with Brazil and Turkey. She stressed that the proposed resolution is targeting the Islamic Republic’s refusal to suspend its uranium enrichment program and its plans to build 10 new nuclear facilities.

She presented the draft to the 10 non-permanent council members — including Brazil and Turkey — and said the US will work hard to win support from as many members as possible. She said she is confident the resolution will get the minimum 9 “yes” votes. Rice said the US considers new sanctions “urgent” but wouldn’t speculate on when the resolution will be put to a vote.

The draft resolution would target a range of activities related to Iran’s nuclear program, including the Revolutionary Guard, which controls companies and organizations that have links to weapons proliferation. These companies and individuals would be added to a list of those subject to an asset freeze and travel ban that is still being compiled.

The draft resolution also calls on all countries “to exercise vigilance” over Revolutionary Guard transactions “that could contribute to Iran’s proliferation-sensitive nuclear activities or the development of nuclear weapon delivery systems.”

The draft would also:

— Ban Iranian investment in such sensitive nuclear activities abroad as uranium mining.
— Prohibit the sale of eight categories of heavy weapons including attack helicopters, warships, missiles and battle tanks to the Islamic Republic.
— Ban Iran from undertaking any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons and order states to “take all necessary measures to prevent the transfer of technology or technical assistance to Iran related to such activities.”

The last sanctions resolution, adopted in March 2008, authorized inspection of cargo suspected of containing banned items on planes and ships owned or operated by Iran Air Cargo and the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line. The new proposal would call on countries to cooperate in inspections — which must receive the consent of the ship’s flag state — and ban the supply of fuel or services to Iranian owned or contracted vessels suspected of carrying prohibited cargo.

The draft resolution is weaker than the original Western-backed proposal, especially on financial and energy-related measures. Rather than place sanctions on Iran’s oil industry, the proposed resolution simply notes the “potential connection” between Iranian energy revenues and funding for the country’s nuclear program and calls on UN members to be aware of it.

On the financial side, the draft calls on — but does not require — countries to block financial transactions, including insurance and reinsurance, and ban the licensing of Iranian banks if they have information that provides “reasonable grounds” to believe these activities could contribute to Iranian nuclear activities.

The draft, in its preamble, recalls the needs for states “to exercise vigilance” over all Iranian banks, including the Central Bank, to prevent transactions contributing to proliferation activities — but there is not even an official “call” by the council to do this.

To improve compliance by the 192 UN member states, the draft resolution calls for the establishment of a panel of experts to monitor implementation of the four sanctions resolutions against Iran.

Many had believed Monday’s Iran-Turkey-Brazil deal would blunt the U.S.-led drive for new sanctions, but Clinton said the six-power agreement on a new resolution was a rejection of Iran’s efforts to forestall penalties.

“This announcement is as convincing an answer to the efforts undertaken by Teheran over the last few days as any we could provide,” she 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.”