UNSC edges closer to accord on Iran: EU hints at compromise
By Our Correspondent
UNITED NATIONS March 28: The UN Security Council on Tuesday edged closer to an agreement on a statement calling on Iran to halt enrichment of uranium, but a deal still appeared elusive before a forthcoming foreign ministers meeting in Berlin on Thursday.
US Ambassador John Bolton said, “I don’t know whether we will reach an agreement here before the ministerial meeting. We may succeed, we may not succeed, but its important to try,” after a meeting of permanent five members of the council.
“It is now three weeks since the International Atomic Energy Agency board took this matter up and we are going to try and resolve it in the next day or so,” Mr Bolton said.
Russia, backed by China, opposes heavy Security Council involvement on Iran, fearing it would lead to punitive measures.
Moscow last week proposed cutting a large part of the draft that asks Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment efforts, which could produce weapons-grade fuel.
Iran says its nuclear research is for peaceful purposes, while the West believes it is a cover for bomb making.
On Thursday, the foreign ministers of the five council powers and Germany are due to meet in Berlin to hammer out strategy and try to break any remaining impasse on the statement.
“We are dealing with nervousness from some of the parties on what will happen next and uncertainties. Russia has particular concerns, including very high equities in Iran,” a senior British official said in London.
Britain’s UN ambassador, Emyr Jones Parry, told reporters: “We need to agree on the text and if possible to have it ready for adoption. If we can finish it before Thursday, we will.”
Agencies add: Germany signalled on Tuesday the European Union might be willing to compromise with Iran about its nuclear enrichment programme, the focus of a crisis meeting of six world powers in Berlin on Thursday. But Berlin conditioned any possible compromise on Iran’s willingness to suspend all activities related to uranium enrichment for a certain period.
Tehran, which says it only seeks nuclear-generated electricity, not the capacity to produce atomic bombs as the West suspects, has so far ruled out such a suspension.
Earlier this year, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) proposed allowing Iran to keep a limited programme of uranium enrichment after halting such work for several years and accepting intrusive U.N. inspections.
Deputy Foreign Minister Gernot Erler said the idea could be considered by EU negotiators Germany, France and Britain, but it would need solid backing from the Security Council, which is now trying to agree on how to deal with Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
“I was very impressed by the ICG proposals. I think we can consider these proposals but only on the basis that we have a united and common position in the Security Council,” Erler said at a conference on Iran and the Middle East.
The United States insists Iran should never enrich uranium while the EU has said it may — in the interests of compromise — be willing to permit some enrichment after about a decade.
Within the EU, Germany — one of the biggest exporters to Iran — is considered to be more in favour of an earlier resumption of enrichment than other states, EU diplomats say.
Erler said Iran, not the West, should take the first step towards a compromise by restoring a moratorium on uranium enrichment it ended in January. Tehran has so far refused.
