U.N.: 5 MAJOR WORLD POWERS & ONE HYPERPUISSANCE FAIL TO AGREE ON IRAN

Major powers fail to agree on Iran sanctions

The six have not yet agreed on what would be in resolution to punish Iran for not halting its nuclear program.
By David Millikin - WASHINGTON

The six major powers confronting Iran over its nuclear program failed Wednesday to agree on sanctions to impose on Tehran and sent the dossier to their ambassadors at the United Nations for further talks, senior US officials said.

Senior diplomats from the six - Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States - discussed the sanctions during a videoconference Wednesday morning, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

"I think there is broad agreement on the potential sanctions that would be included, but not yet agreement on the specific items that would be in a resolution, that has to be worked out," he said.

The six have been debating for weeks over the kinds of sanctions to slap on Iran for ignoring an August 31 UN deadline for suspending a uranium enrichment program that Washington and others fear will be subverted to produce fissile material for nuclear weapons.

But China and Russia, which both wield veto power on the Security Council, have balked at imposing the kind of punitive measures sought by Washington, with the backing of Britain.
Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, who has led the negotiations for the United States, said the process could still drag on for days, delayed in part by more urgent consultations about sanctions to impose on North Korea after it announced that it carried out its first test of the nuclear bomb on Monday.

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The five permanent Security Council members plus Germany drew up in June a list of 15 possible punitive measures against Iran as part of a "carrots and sticks" package that also included economic and political rewards if Tehran agreed to suspend uranium enrichment.

The plan, which was never officially released but was leaked to the press, called for a graduated series of measures, firstly targetting Iran's military programs and later, if these fail, moving to broader political and economic sanctions.

McCormack confirmed that list being sent to the UN ambassadors was a "subset" of the sanctions included in the earlier document.

The broader list included an embargo on the export of goods and technologies linked to Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, a freeze on assets related to the programs and travel bans on nuclear and weapons scientists.

Tougher measures would prohibit financial transactions by individuals or organizations involved in the arms programs and a ban on investment in entities engaged in the programs.

Washington has been arguing in favor of imposing sanctions since Iran ignored the August 31 deadline.

But under strong pressure from China and Russia, which both have important economic ties to Iran and traditionally oppose sanctions as a diplomatic weapon, the US agreed to several additional weeks of negotiations aimed at convincing the Iranians to suspend enrichment and accept the incentives package.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who represented the six in those talks, acknowledged last week that they had failed, setting the stage for a sanctions resolution.

Russia and China were still expected to try to water down the impact of any sanctions during the drafting of a Security Council resolution.



Does this come as a surprise to anyone?!? I mean really, I have been saying for months that this is going to be the result and negotiations are going to end when Iran tests a nuke on NYC...

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