UNITED NATIONS, March 24: The UN Security Council voted unanimously on Saturday to tighten sanctions on Iran but without the presence of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who had wanted to defend his country's refusal to suspend uranium enrichment.

The measures, aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear programme, also targets the country's arms exports, the state-owned Bank Sepah and the elite Revolutionary Guards.

The sanctions would be suspended if Iran halted enrichment work. “It is suspension for suspension,” acting US Ambassador Alejandro Wolff said earlier. “It is not a high bar for Iran to meet.”

Germany and the permanent council members with veto power — the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China — spent a month in intensive negotiations drawing up the text.

To get the support of South Africa, Indonesia and Qatar, they added the importance of a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction and highlighted the role of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

South Africa's UN ambassador, Dumisani Kumalo, who had submitted amendments that deleted all the sanctions, said he voted in favour because of Pretoria's opposition to nuclear weapons but criticized the resolution for penalizing Iranian institutions beyond the nuclear sphere.

The new measures are a follow-up to a resolution adopted on Dec 23 banning trade with Iran in sensitive nuclear materials and ballistic missiles, as well as freezing assets of individuals and institutions associated with Tehran's atomic programmes.

Saturday's resolution may affect Iran's economy but does not touch on its oil industry. Iran is the world's fourth largest oil producer.

It imposes an embargo on all conventional weapons Iran can sell and freeze the assets abroad of 28 individuals, institutions and companies, including Bank Sepah, as the United States has already done, isolating it from international financing.

The text calls on -- but does not order -- nations and international financial institutions to restrict new grants, credits and loans to Iran.—Reuters