The United States is still moving on new sanctions against Iran, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad said Tuesday.
Khalilzad told reporters at the UN Headquarters in New York that his instructions from the U.S. administration remain unchanged.
"We have had the political directors' meeting that took place a few days ago," he said, adding that there was agreement that action will be transferred to New York as early as Friday.
On the new U.S. intelligence estimate, which found that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in the fall of 2003, Khalilzad said "we will see what impact it will have."
However, he argued that the intelligence estimate "does not say that Iran does not have the intention to develop a nuclear weapons capability."
He said that the suspension of Iran's nuclear weapons program in 2003 was at least part because of the international pressure.
The Security Council should "bring sufficient pressure to bear" with new sanctions to get Iran to end its uranium enrichment activities, the U.S. ambassador said.
Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya said the finding of the intelligence report changed the situation for the Security Council to adopt new resolution containing sanctions against Iran.
"I think the council members will have to consider that, because I think we all start from the presumption that now things have changed," he told reporters.
The latest National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), the formal consensus of all 16 U.S. spy agencies, said Monday that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003, a stark reversal of previous intelligence assessments that Iran was actively moving toward a bomb.
The United States and its western allies have been pressing for a new Security Council resolution to push for further punitive measures on Iran to halt uranium enrichment. The council has passed two resolutions containing sanctions on Iran.
Source: Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article