UNITED NATIONS, May 4: The Security Council on Thursday mulled a binding Franco-British draft resolution demanding a halt to Iran’s uranium enrichment that could be used for bomb-making, as Paris ruled out using force to end the standoff with Tehran.

Technical experts of the 15-member body were to meet behind closed doors later in the day to pore over the draft, as ambassadors awaited instructions from their capitals ahead of a vote and Iran vowed to press on with its nuclear work which it insists is peaceful.

The draft needs at least nine votes and no veto from any of the council’s five permanent members in order to pass. It invokes Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which can authorise economic sanctions or even military action as a last resort in cases of threats to international peace and security.

Peruvian Ambassador Oswaldo de Rivero, of the 10 non-permanent members of the council, complained that the five permanent members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — were trying to rush a vote.

But British ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said all council members “had the same time to look at it (the text) and the same ownership.”

Asked whether it was realistic to expect a vote before Monday when foreign ministers of Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States are to discuss Iran here, Mr Jones Parry replied: “We’ll see. It’s our wish we should do that expeditiously.”

The draft demands that Iran suspend “all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including research and development, and suspend the construction of a reactor moderated by heavy water”.

It also calls upon all states to “exercise vigilance” in preventing the transfer to Iran of equipment that could assist its nuclear and missile programmes.

The text, drafted in close consultations with Germany and the United States, did not set a timeframe for Iran to comply, but France’s UN Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said Tehran was expected to do so “no later than early June”.

Ghana’s UN envoy Nana Effah-Apenteng told reporters on Thursday that the draft “went further than we expected”, an apparent reference to a threat to consider unspecified “further measures” at a later stage to ensure compliance.

Russia and China have already indicated that they have a problem with the reference to Chapter 7, because it had been used by the United States to justify going to war in Iraq even though there was no explicit UN authorisation.

Beijing and Moscow, which have close trading ties with Tehran, are cool to sanctions and adamantly oppose resorting to military action against Iran.

In Paris, French Premier Dominique de Villepin said that military action was not the answer, drawing on the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq as an example.

“We know that not only would it not solve anything, but that sometimes worsens, further, the situation. We saw that in a clear way with Iraq,” he noted. “Our aim is to guarantee the exclusively pacific character of the Iranian nuclear programme.”

Meanwhile, Washington rejected a call by one of its key allies, Germany, for one-to-one US-Iran talks on the issue.

Iran and the United States have not had direct relations since 1980, which many experts say is a big factor in the current diplomatic impasse.

In another act of defiance, Iran claimed on Thursday it had made more progress in ultra-sensitive nuclear work.—AFP