Germany urges new Iran sanctions, powers set talks
(Adds U.S. comment)
By Noah Barkin
BERLIN, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Germany said on Wednesday it wanted a new U.N. resolution increasing sanctions against Iran over its disputed nuclear work, and major powers plan to meet in Berlin next Tuesday to discuss strategy.
"We believe such a resolution is necessary," foreign ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger told a news conference.
"There is a plan for such a meeting, the foreign minister invited his colleagues and we are in the process of checking whether everyone can make it," he added.
The West fears Tehran is secretly seeking an atom bomb. But Iran says its nuclear programme is only for power generation and a recent U.S. intelligence report said Tehran had stopped an active nuclear arms drive in 2003, compounding international disagreement over next steps on Iran.
Jaeger said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his counterparts from the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council were expected to join the Berlin talks.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will attend the meeting, her spokesman Sean McCormack said.
He said Washington's point person on Iran, Nicholas Burns, had held a conference call with his counterparts from the permanent five members of the U.N. Security Council as well as Germany to discuss the sanctions resolution.
A Western diplomat said the talks could yield agreement in broad terms about what should be done with Iran but there was no guarantee the parties would get that far.
Several diplomats said Russia in particular had issues with Western proposals to impose sanctions on two more Iranian banks, Bank Melli and Bank Saderat. A previous sanctions resolution targeted Iran's Bank Sepah.
Steinmeier will first consult in Vienna on Thursday with International Atomic Energy Agency Director Mohamed ElBaradei.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog chief held talks in Tehran last week to seek swifter cooperation with a long IAEA inquiry into Iran's nuclear history and an end to curbs on U.N. inspections meant to ensure its present programme is wholly peaceful.
ElBaradei returned with an agreement from Iran to answer remaining questions within a month about past, covert nuclear work that had military applications. The IAEA confirmed the ElBaradei-Steinmeier meeting but declined further comment.
Diplomats familiar with the agency said ElBaradei could tell Steinmeier Iran now seemed committed to resolving last issues shortly and possibly caution against resorting to more sanctions within four weeks to avoid a pretext for Iran to delay further.
IRAN WARNS ON COOPERATION
After starting to answer questions late last year, following years of stonewalling, Iran said broader sanctions could make it stop cooperating. ElBaradei has said sanctions alone will not resolve the standoff, and more diplomacy was needed.
China and Russia have balked at more sanctions resolutions, particularly after the U.S. intelligence estimate last month.
Before that finding, Moscow and Beijing sometimes cited a need not to upset improving IAEA-Iranian relations as grounds for putting off further sanctions.
But Western diplomats note that an end-of-year deadline for wrapping up the inquiry earlier mooted by ElBaradei was not met by Iran and say Tehran's continued defiance of Security Council demands for an enrichment halt alone warrant more sanctions.
"While we support the efforts of the IAEA, those efforts are separate from Security Council actions," McCormack told reporters in Washington.
"I never get into the timing of Security Council resolutions. We would have wished the third (resolution) would have been passed by now. We will keep pushing for one."
The first Western diplomat said ElBaradei was only one part of the process and that simply providing clarity about Iran's past would not create confidence in Iran's future intentions. (Additional reporting by Mark Heinrich in Vienna, Louis Charbonneau at the United Nations and Susan Cornwell in Washington; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
By Noah Barkin
BERLIN, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Germany said on Wednesday it wanted a new U.N. resolution increasing sanctions against Iran over its disputed nuclear work, and major powers plan to meet in Berlin next Tuesday to discuss strategy.
"We believe such a resolution is necessary," foreign ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger told a news conference.
"There is a plan for such a meeting, the foreign minister invited his colleagues and we are in the process of checking whether everyone can make it," he added.
The West fears Tehran is secretly seeking an atom bomb. But Iran says its nuclear programme is only for power generation and a recent U.S. intelligence report said Tehran had stopped an active nuclear arms drive in 2003, compounding international disagreement over next steps on Iran.
Jaeger said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his counterparts from the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council were expected to join the Berlin talks.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will attend the meeting, her spokesman Sean McCormack said.
He said Washington's point person on Iran, Nicholas Burns, had held a conference call with his counterparts from the permanent five members of the U.N. Security Council as well as Germany to discuss the sanctions resolution.
A Western diplomat said the talks could yield agreement in broad terms about what should be done with Iran but there was no guarantee the parties would get that far.
Several diplomats said Russia in particular had issues with Western proposals to impose sanctions on two more Iranian banks, Bank Melli and Bank Saderat. A previous sanctions resolution targeted Iran's Bank Sepah.
Steinmeier will first consult in Vienna on Thursday with International Atomic Energy Agency Director Mohamed ElBaradei.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog chief held talks in Tehran last week to seek swifter cooperation with a long IAEA inquiry into Iran's nuclear history and an end to curbs on U.N. inspections meant to ensure its present programme is wholly peaceful.
ElBaradei returned with an agreement from Iran to answer remaining questions within a month about past, covert nuclear work that had military applications. The IAEA confirmed the ElBaradei-Steinmeier meeting but declined further comment.
Diplomats familiar with the agency said ElBaradei could tell Steinmeier Iran now seemed committed to resolving last issues shortly and possibly caution against resorting to more sanctions within four weeks to avoid a pretext for Iran to delay further.
IRAN WARNS ON COOPERATION
After starting to answer questions late last year, following years of stonewalling, Iran said broader sanctions could make it stop cooperating. ElBaradei has said sanctions alone will not resolve the standoff, and more diplomacy was needed.
China and Russia have balked at more sanctions resolutions, particularly after the U.S. intelligence estimate last month.
Before that finding, Moscow and Beijing sometimes cited a need not to upset improving IAEA-Iranian relations as grounds for putting off further sanctions.
But Western diplomats note that an end-of-year deadline for wrapping up the inquiry earlier mooted by ElBaradei was not met by Iran and say Tehran's continued defiance of Security Council demands for an enrichment halt alone warrant more sanctions.
"While we support the efforts of the IAEA, those efforts are separate from Security Council actions," McCormack told reporters in Washington.
"I never get into the timing of Security Council resolutions. We would have wished the third (resolution) would have been passed by now. We will keep pushing for one."
The first Western diplomat said ElBaradei was only one part of the process and that simply providing clarity about Iran's past would not create confidence in Iran's future intentions. (Additional reporting by Mark Heinrich in Vienna, Louis Charbonneau at the United Nations and Susan Cornwell in Washington; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
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