Roundup: UN waits until more diplomacy over Iran nuclear defiance

The UN Security Council refrains from taking immediate action on possible Iranian sanctions as world powers press on with a fresh round of diplomacy next week with Iran over its controversial nuclear program.

A report by the head of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei, concluded on Thursday that Iran has not suspended its enrichment-related activities as a UN deadline for Tehran to suspend sensitive nuclear enrichment activities expired.

Echoing calls for sanctions from other senior officials in the Bush Administration, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said the report "provides ample evidence of (Iranian) defiance" and that the council must now be ready to impose sanctions.

Although the United States is pushing for a quick UN decision on sanctions, it also acknowledged that no action would be sought before a scheduled meeting next week between EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Tehran's main negotiator Ali Larijani.

"We intend to let this meeting between Solana and Larijani take place next week, and then we will be consulting here and in capitals about where to go from there," John Bolton told reporters at UN headquarters Thursday.

Despite U.S. pressure for a rapid move on sanctions, European Union foreign ministers attending an informal meeting in Finland said Friday there was still time for diplomacy, calling for more dialogue with Iran before taking any punitive measures.

Diplomacy remains the first choice for the EU to resolve the disputed Iranian nuclear issue, Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, whose country holds the current EU presidency, told a news conference.

This is not the time or place for the international community to hit Iran with sanctions, he said.

Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy deplored in a statement Iran's "unsatisfactory response to the ambitious negotiation proposals" offered by the five permanent UN Security Council members and Germany with an aim to persuade Iran to halt nuclear enrichment.

But Douste-Blazy also said he remains "convinced that priority must still be given to the path of dialogue."

Russia, one of the five veto-wielding powers at the UN Security Council, also expressed preference to more diplomacy although it regretted that Iran did not comply with the UN call for it to stop nuclear fuel work.

Consultations would be held between the six nations that had offered Iran an incentives package in exchange for a freeze on enrichment -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States -- and in the UN Security Council over the next few days to decide what further steps should be taken, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said.

By adopting resolution 1696 on July 31, the council demanded that Iran suspend all uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities by August 31 or face possible sanctions. Iran has insisted on its right to pursue nuclear technology as a signatory of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, saying its nuclear program serves only civilian and peaceful purposes.

But the resolution text provides no teeth to slap automatic sanctions. Instead, it requires further discussions inside the 15- member Security Council for a follow-on resolution which specifically stipulates sanctions.

Source: Xinhua