Iran sanctions vote at U.N. seen weeks away

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - It will take weeks before the U.N. Security Council is ready to vote on a new round of sanctions against Iran proposed last week by six world powers, council diplomats said on Monday.

Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Russia and China circulated a draft proposal on Friday for new U.N. sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. The text calls for asset freezes and mandatory travel bans for specific Iranian officials and vigilance on all banks in Iran.

Western countries say Iran's refusal to comply with U.N. Security Council demands that it stop enriching uranium supports their suspicion that Tehran is seeking nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful and enrichment a sovereign right.

On Monday, the five permanent council members met with the 10 nonpermanent members to discuss the sanctions proposal and prepare for the drafting of a formal sanctions resolution. China's envoy said this process could take weeks.

"It will take maybe a few weeks," deputy Chinese ambassador to the United Nations, Liu Zhenmin, told reporters ahead of the meeting at the British mission. He gave no further details.

A U.S. official said Washington had been pushing for a new resolution for many months and wanted to move more quickly. But European diplomats said they wanted to move at a slow enough pace to ensure a unanimous vote for a new round of sanctions.

South African Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo said his country would like to wait for the upcoming progress report by Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the United Nations' Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, on inspections in Iran.

"I think the IAEA report is very important because they are ... the experts," he said. "Let's see what they have to say."