US, allies prepare to set sanctions on Iran

WASHINGTON -- US officials and their European allies are gearing up to impose targeted sanctions on Iran, which has defied a UN Security Council order to halt the enrichment of uranium by today.

``We hope that sanctions will send a clear, strong signal to the Iranian regime that this is a matter of utmost concern and serious concern to the international community and that they need to change their behavior," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said yesterday. He predicted that today's deadline, set by the council in July, would pass without Iran's compliance.

Nicholas Burns, US under secretary of state for political affairs, is planning to travel to Berlin next week to discuss putting together a package of sanctions. US and European officials have said they might begin with more symbolic measures, such as a travel ban and asset freeze on members of the Iranian government, but increase sanctions over time to include more hard-hitting bans on Iran's access to international credit and other financial assistance.

US officials hope the Security Council will pass a resolution instituting a first phase of sanctions within a month and that Russia and China, veto-wielding members that have been reluctant to support sanctions in the past, will agree.

``They will hedge. But however halfhearted, they will go along," predicted one senior US official who is involved in Iran policy and spoke on condition of anonymity. ``Then we are going to put a lot of international pressure on Iran. That's the main game right now."

McCormack said US officials are also trying to plan a second round of talks with nations willing to impose their own bilateral sanctions beyond what the Security Council agrees to.

Iranian officials have warned that sanctions would set in motion a confrontation with the West.

Yesterday, Iran's hard-line president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, tried to persuade Europe to split with US efforts and refuse to sanction Iran. He said sanctions would not stop Iran from pursuing its right to nuclear technology, which Iran insists is for peaceful electricity production.

``Sanctions cannot dissuade the Iranian nation from achieving our lofty goals of progress," he was quoted by Iran's state-run television. ``So it's better for Europe to be independent in decision-making and to settle problems through negotiations."

Some analysts said they held out hope that the United States and Europe would search for a way to reopen negotiations with Iran rather than opt for confrontation. On Aug. 22, Iran made a detailed offer to return to talks on its nuclear program, without suspending enrichment.

``Iran doesn't say, `I don't want to suspend [enrichment],' " said Abbas Maleki, an Iranian professor who has specialized in foreign policy and is a fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. ``Iran says that suspension should be part of the negotiations."

Maleki said Europeans believe that there is still ``some room for more negotiations," noting that European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana is seeking clarifications on the Iranian proposal.

The apparent consensus among key US allies that Iran must be punished for failing to meet the deadline is a victory for those in the Bush administration who have long favored tougher action against Iran. In order to get more aggressive sanctions on Iran, the United States has needed Europe and Asia to back its own unilateral efforts .

For years, the United States and Europe were at odds about how to handle the fundamentalist Islamic regime. The United States severed ties, and most trade, in 1979, after Iranian revolutionaries held Americans hostage. But Europe maintains diplomatic relations with Iran as well as trade in auto parts, machinery , and other goods.

In 2002, US officials raised the alarm that Iran appeared to be developing a nuclear weapon after the discovery of a secret uranium enrichment facility at a complex known as Natanz, which had been concealed for 18 years. Iran has a right to enrich uranium for peaceful nuclear power under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, as long as its facilities are monitored by UN inspectors.

US officials maintained that Iran should be punished for violating the nuclear treaty by building secret facilities.

But Britain, Germany , and France favored economic incentives to coax the regime into giving up enrichment.

In 2004, the United States and European were so divided about how to deal with Iran that meetings between them sparked tension, and even anger. In 2004, European diplomats arrived at the State Department hoping for a significant discussion on their incentives proposal. Instead, John Bolton, then the undersecretary of state for nonproliferation affairs, simply read a statement on Iran that he had prepared for the press, according to two people present.

But in 2005, Condoleezza Rice became secretary of state, and she was instrumental in persuading President Bush to back the European incentives package, on condition that they would support tougher action if the incentives did not succeed.

The US support allowed the Europeans to make a lucrative offer that included membership to the World Trade Organization and direct diplomatic engagement with the United States.

David Albright, a former UN weapons inspector, said although Iran has not agreed to suspend enrichment, Tehran appears to have refrained from setting up a second cascade of centrifuges used to remove the uranium particles.

``They seem to be constraining themselves for whatever reason," he said.

He said it might take years for sanctions to affect the Iranian regime.

``In all cases, governments are preparing themselves for the long haul," he said.