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France
and Britain, support by the United
States (US), have floated a draft
statement to be issued by the United
Nations Security Council (UNSC) on
Iran’s nuclear program to the 10
so-called non-permanent members of the UNSC. While Russia and China, with
large trade and military ties with
Iran, have not supported the statement
yet, intense backroom discussions are
on to get them to accede. Normally,
the five veto-bearing so-called
permanent states agree ahead of time
before a draft is circulated. However,
in this case three of the five have
started socializing something without
consensus perhaps to build up pressure
on Iran to negotiate a deal with
Russia. Even if the 10 non-veto
members are to support the statement,
China and Russia will have to agree
with or at least abstain from voting
for the statement to pass.
Diplomats say that the draft is seeking a quick
report from the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) on Iranian
compliance. If the report should
implicate Iran, the Council will then
set out to act to bring Iran to comply
with the international requirements.
However, Russia and China want the
IAEA report to first be discussed
within the IAEA before it comes back
to the UNSC thus moving the issue back
to the IAEA. But exasperated Western
nations oppose this move arguing that
this is precisely what the world
community went through before the case
was referred to the UNSC. |
