WASHINGTON - A draft United Nations resolution on Iran circulating among the world's major powers calls for new sanctions against the elite Quds Force and a top Iranian bank, as well as "restraint" and "vigilance" on the supply, sale, or transfer of all arms to Iran, according to sources familiar with the proposal.
The draft, to be discussed today by political specialists from the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France, and Germany, recommends freezing the assets of entities and individuals suspected of engaging in nuclear proliferation and weapons delivery systems or violating two earlier UN Security Council sanctions resolutions, the sources said.
It also calls for a travel ban - prohibiting entry or transit in all UN member countries - for many of the same people.
The proposal specifically designates the Quds Force, the foreign operations branch of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, for exporting arms prohibited under previous resolutions and for proliferation activity.
It is highly unusual for the world body to sanction the military wing of a member state, officials said.
The proposed measure would freeze any of its assets abroad, make business dealings with it illegal, and isolate it financially, they added.
The Quds Force numbers up to 15,000 and runs Tehran's covert activities, including arms, aid, and training for groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Iraq's Shi'ite militias, US and European officials say.
The draft of the long-delayed third resolution is still being negotiated, and the early versions are often tougher than the final product.
But its scope is significantly wider than the two previous UN resolutions, even though it does not go as far as the sweeping sanctions the United States took unilaterally in October against the 125,000-member Revolutionary Guard Corps, Quds Force, and three banks, officials say.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told a women's foreign policy forum yesterday that the talks would attempt to finalize the draft to be put before the Security Council in the next few weeks.
"I have found that most states have found that we have the right strategy, and the key is still to get Iran to stop its enrichment and reprocessing so that we can begin negotiations to meet the legitimate need for civilian nuclear power," Rice said.
The proposal indicates that there is still an appetite for significant new punitive measures against Iran even after the US National Intelligence Estimate last week concluded that Tehran had halted its nuclear weapons program four years ago, according to officials from several countries.
"The international community is not being dissuaded by the NIE and is not going to be led down a cul-de-sac because of the noise of the moment. It's still focused on one salient fact. Iran can't run about defying the international community," said a European diplomat.
