NEW YORK, May 6: The five veto-wielding UN Security Council members on Saturday ended another round of talks that apparently failed to bridge differences over a draft resolution requiring Tehran to halt uranium enrichment.
The ambassadors of Britain, France, China, Russia and the United States — the so-called P5 — huddled for two hours at the French UN mission here as Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak said in Moscow that the Franco-British draft “requires major changes”.
“All sides tried to propose language that could bridge the differences,” Chinese ambassador Wang Guangya said after the meeting.
He said sticking points remained the draft’s reference to Chapter Seven of the UN charter and its suggestion that the Iranian nuclear programme represents a threat to international peace and security.
Chapter Seven can authorise economic sanctions or military action as a last resort in cases of threats to international peace and security.
The P5 envoys were due to meet informally with their 10 non-permanent colleagues later in the day.
In the absence of language acceptable to Russia and China, it was virtually certain that the draft would not be put to a vote before a meeting of foreign ministers from the P5 plus Germany here Monday.
Ahead of that high-level meeting, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, to discuss the Iranian nuclear issue, the Russian foreign ministry said.
The draft would oblige Iran to suspend uranium enrichment, the process creating fuel for nuclear reactors and — potentially — the core of an atomic bomb. It warns, in cases of Iranian non-compliance, of unspecified “further measures” requiring another resolution.
Western powers suspect Iran is seeking to acquire nuclear weapons capability under the cover of its civilian atomic program. Iran, however, insists its nuclear aims are peaceful and has defended its right to conduct uranium enrichment as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Russia and China, which have close trading ties with Tehran, adamantly oppose sanctions and the use of force against Iran.
They say the nuclear standoff must be resolved diplomatically, with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) leading the process.
Earlier, US ambassador John Bolton said he wanted to hear whether the Russians and the Chinese had new ideas on how to break the impasse.
Wang also reiterated that Beijing did not see the need to invoke Chapter Seven since, in his view, all Security Council resolutions are binding.
On Saturday, Kislyak also outlined the terms of a deal that would allow both the IAEA to carry out necessary checks and Iran to continue its nuclear program.
Russia “has come forward with an offer, the essence of which is that Iran freeze uranium enrichment work for a time to work with the IAEA to restore trust in the character of Iran’s nuclear program”, Kislyak was quoted by ITAR-TASS as saying.
Under Moscow’s proposal, put forward in varying forms over the past few months, Russia would then enrich uranium on its territory on Iran’s behalf for a certain period of time.
The offer “remains on the negotiating table”, Kislyak said.—AFP
