U.S. Crafts Response on Iran
Work With Europe on a Binding U.N. Resolution Follows Defiance From Tehran

By John Ward Anderson and Colum Lynch
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, May 3, 2006

PARIS, May 2 -- The United States is working with European allies to craft a binding U.N. resolution demanding that Iran immediately stop nuclear-related activities, and will push for tough economic and diplomatic sanctions if it refuses, a senior U.S. official said Tuesday.

The statement from R. Nicholas Burns, undersecretary of state for political affairs, came as Iranian officials said they had boosted the purity of their uranium enrichment from 3.6 percent to 4.8 percent, found three new uranium deposits in Iran and would retaliate against Israel if attacked by the United States.

Burns spoke before a closed dinner meeting in Paris with senior diplomats from the other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council -- Russia, China, France and Britain -- plus Germany.

There was no immediate comment after the session from the representatives of Russia and China. But a Security Council diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that at the meeting the Russians resisted proposals that the new resolution mention Chapter 7 of the U.N. charter, which is usually invoked to authorize sanctions or military action.

Russia and China, which both hold veto power in the council, contend that sanctions would be counter-productive. In numerous previous meetings about Iran, U.S. and Western European officials have failed to persuade them to sign on to the idea.

A spokesman for Burns said the parties at the meeting agreed to begin Security Council debate and start negotiations on a resolution. A statement from France's Foreign Ministry said that officials from the three European countries presented the broad outlines of a mandatory resolution.

On March 29, the council passed a nonbinding resolution calling on Iran to suspend nuclear activities. Iran ignored it. The proposed new resolution would represent a step up in pressure from the Security Council.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John R. Bolton, said Tuesday in Washington that if the Security Council does not ultimately approve sanctions, the United States might line up its own coalition of countries willing to do so.

According to Burns, steps under discussion include a ban on weapons sales to Iran, a prohibition on transferring nuclear technology to Iran that could be used for peaceful or military purposes, and a ban on other commercial activities that could benefit Iran's nuclear program. Officials are also discussing restricting international travel by senior Iranian officials, Burns said.

The United States and its European allies argue that Iran's enrichment program is part of a covert effort to build nuclear weapons. Iran says the sole purpose is to use it in nuclear power plants, a practice recognized under international law as a sovereign right.

Some analysts in Europe argue that tough policies being pushed by the United States and its allies have achieved none of their main goals, and are instead making matters worse.

"The policy to isolate Iran has not only strengthened the most radical segments of the Iranian population, it also has led to the extreme popularity" of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the Arab world, said Azadeh Kian-Thiebaut, a political scientist at the National Center for Scientific Research in Paris.

The analysts note that in the last year, Iran has suspended negotiations with European countries, has accelerated its nuclear program and has begun enriching uranium. It has adopted a much more belligerent tone and has significantly scaled back cooperation with inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency.

On Tuesday, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, told the Iranian Student News Agency that Iranian scientists have enriched uranium to 4.8 percent purity, up from 3.6 percent last month. Uranium needs to be enriched to more than 90 percent to make a bomb, and estimates differ widely about how far Iran is from that point, with some specialists saying only two years, and others saying more than 10.

Also on Tuesday, Iran's deputy chief for nuclear research and technology said that uranium deposits had been found in three new places in the center of the country. And the student news agency quoted a senior military official, Rear Adm. Mohammed Ibrahim Dehqani, as saying that if the U.S. causes problems, "Israel will be the first place that we will target."

Seyyed Ali Moujani, a senior official at the Iranian Embassy in Paris, told reporters that "we are not worried about more sanctions because we're already suffering from sanctions and embargos, and we managed to enrich uranium in a very tough situation thanks to a national effort."

Late last year, Iranian officials prepared for possible broader punitive steps by reportedly removing money from European banks, French military analyst Francois Heisbourg said. The real question, he said, is whether the United States is prepared for the possible backlash of sanctions against Iran -- specifically, higher oil prices.

"The only sanction available is to prevent the export of oil by Iran. That's the only serious one," he said. "But if Americans aren't happy with gas at $3 a gallon, will they be happy if prices are $6 a gallon?"

Burns said that sanctions against Iran's oil and gas industry currently are not under consideration because they would strike too hard at ordinary Iranians. The purpose of sanctions, he said, would be to target Iran's policies and its political leadership.

Heisbourg said that a military confrontation between the United States and Iran would have a devastating impact on U.S. influence in the Middle East and could bring on a feared "clash of civilizations" between Islamic and Christian countries -- a result he said Ahmadinejad may be angling for. Heisbourg, Kian-Thiebaut and others expressed doubt that such attacks would do more than slow Iran's nuclear program temporarily.

Lynch reported from the United Nations. Researcher Corrine Gavard in Paris contributed to this report.