UN places sanctions on Iran
Nuclear work draws response; Tehran calls bans annoying
UNITED NATIONS — The UN Security Council leveled its fourth round of sanctions against Iran’s nuclear program yesterday, but the measures did little to overcome widespread doubts that they — or even the additional steps pledged by American and European officials — would accomplish the council’s longstanding goal: halting Iran’s production of nuclear fuel.
The new resolution, hailed by President Obama as delivering “the toughest sanctions ever faced by the Iranian government,’’ took months to negotiate and major concessions by US officials but still failed to carry the symbolic weight of a unanimous decision. Twelve of the 15 nations on the council voted for the measure; Turkey and Brazil voted against it, and Lebanon abstained.
Both the United States and Europe acknowledged before negotiations started that they would not get the tough sanctions they were hoping for, promising to enact harsher measures on their own once they had the imprimatur of the United Nations. Congress is expected to pass a package of unilateral sanctions against Iran, and European leaders will begin discussing possible measures at a summit next week.
“We would want to have a tough translation of the resolution,’’ said Gerard Araud, the French envoy to the United Nations.
But Iran has defied repeated demands from the Security Council to stop enriching nuclear fuel and immediately vowed to disregard the new sanctions. Despite earlier resolutions, Iran has built new, sometimes secret centrifuge plants needed to enrich uranium — and has enriched it to higher levels of purity.
Although Iran insists that its efforts are strictly for peaceful purposes, its actions have raised suspicions in the West. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned yesterday that Iran’s leaders were actively weighing whether to develop a nuclear weapon.
“Whether or not there should be a move toward a breakout capacity or toward weapons, there is a lot of debate within the leadership,’’ Clinton said, without providing evidence.
The five permanent members of the Security Council issued a separate statement emphasizing that diplomacy remained an important option, and Obama, in a lengthy statement at the White House, left the door open to negotiations.
“This day was not inevitable,’’ he said. “We made clear from the beginning of my administration that the United States was prepared to pursue diplomatic solutions,’’ arguing that the Iranian leadership had refused to engage.
Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, offered few indications of being swayed by the current resolution, saying during a visit to Tajikistan that sanctions are “annoying flies, like a used tissue.’’
The main thrust of the sanctions is against military purchases, trade, and financial transactions carried out by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which controls the nuclear program and has taken a more central role in running the country and the economy.
The sanctions tighten measures previously taken against 40 individuals, putting them under a travel ban and asset freeze, but adds one name to the list — Javad Rahiqi, 56, the head of the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center.
The sanctions require countries to inspect ships or planes headed to or from Iran if they suspect banned cargo is aboard, but there is no authorization to board ships by force at sea. Iran has also proved itself adept at obscuring its ownership of cargo vessels.
Another aspect of the sanctions bars all countries from allowing Iran to invest in their nuclear enrichment plants, uranium mines, and other nuclear-related technology, and sets up a new committee to monitor enforcement.
