China, Russia Again Apply Brakes on UN Steps Against Iran

Since 07-21-06

By Patrick Goodenough
CNSNews.com International Editor

July 21, 2006

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=/ForeignBureaus/archive/200607/INT20060721b.html

(CNSNews.com) - A week after agreeing with their U.N. Security Council colleagues to act against Iran's nuclear activities, Russia and China are once again working to slow down efforts to do so.

At a meeting in Paris last Wednesday, the foreign ministers of the five permanent Security Council members and Germany (P5+1) agreed to negotiate a council resolution making it "mandatory" for Iran to stop enriching uranium.

If Iran refused to comply, they would "work for the adoption of measures" under an article of the U.N. Charter that allows for economic and diplomatic sanctions.

That agreement was seen as a victory for the U.S., given previous reluctance from veto-wielding members Russia and China to take a firm stance towards Iran.

This week, however, the two countries were again holding up progress in New York, where a draft resolution prepared by European members and backed by the U.S. was being discussed.

China and Russia have submitted amendments, objecting to the fact the text invokes chapter seven of the U.N. Charter, which can be used to justify the use of sanctions or armed action.

The U.S. and its allies suspect Tehran of using a civilian nuclear program as a front for developing nuclear weapons.

The draft calls on Iran to suspend all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, for the suspension to be verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) by an as-yet undecided date in August, and for "further measures" under chapter seven to be adopted if Iran does not comply.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton told reporters he hoped the resolution would be passed quickly, but Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin made it clear there was no hurry.

"We are not in a rush at all," he said after talks on the resolution. "We are giving some freedom to Iran to respond. We do not want to dictate things to Iran. Nobody's pushing Iran anywhere."

In Russia, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the Ekho Moskvy radio station the government had agreed that if a first resolution doesn't work, "after some period it will be necessary to discuss additional measures, including ones of an economic nature."

Russia would not support any measures that allowed "the use of force or other coercion," he said.

In testimony before a Senate committee Thursday, American Enterprise Institute scholar Michael Ledeen said there was no reason to believe the U.N. could be counted on to change Iran's behavior.

"The supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, has told his associates that Iran now has a 'strategic relationship' with [President Vladimir] Putin's Russia, and that China is so dependent on Iranian oil that it is highly unlikely [Beijing] would vote against Tehran in the Security Council," he said.

The P5+1 in early June offered Iran a package of incentives in return for halting its nuclear activities and asked for a swift decision. Iran says it will only respond on August 22.

Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani in a statement Thursday accused the U.S. of trying to prevent a negotiated settlement of the standoff, and reiterated the government would not reply to the incentive offer until late next month.

"If the path of confrontation is chosen instead of the path of dialogue," he said, "then there will be no option for Iran but to reconsider its nuclear policies."

Iranian officials have said in recent days Iran could stop cooperating with the IAEA and withdraw from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

If it does so, Tehran will be emulating North Korea, which in early 2003 became the first signatory to pull out of the NPT.

Russia and China have also made their weight felt in Security Council steps against North Korea, which is believed already to possess nuclear weapons and early this month test-fired a series of ballistic missiles despite appeals from governments around the world.

Last Saturday, the council passed a resolution condemning the missile launches and seeking to block any cooperation with Pyongyang's missile and non-conventional weapons programs.

Beijing and Moscow agreed to back the resolution only after language was removed invoking chapter seven of the U.N. charter.