Europeans Call for Iran To Face U.N. Sanctions

By David Crawford
January 13, 2006
Wall Street Journal
Original Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113708029623744893.html
VIENNA -- Britain, France and Germany called for Iran to be sent to the United Nations Security Council for potential sanctions, ending two years of tortuous negotiations that had sought to curtail Iran's nuclear ambitions.
After a brief meeting in Berlin, foreign ministers of the three countries and European Union foreign-policy representative Javier Solana canceled talks with Iranian negotiators planned for Jan. 18 and called for an emergency session of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which could then refer the matter to the Security Council.
Washington -- which has long sought the move, and calculated that it would be easier to rally international support with Europe in the lead -- immediately seconded the call. It remains to be seen, however, what measures the U.S.'s fellow Security Council members can agree on.
From our point of view, the time has come for the U.N. Security Council to become involved, said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. In a joint statement, the Europeans cited Iran's documented record of concealment and deception.
The action followed Iran's move earlier this week to restart a research program for uranium enrichment, a process that can produce fuel for both nuclear power and nuclear weapons. Iran had previously suspended the program to build Western confidence that it wasn't planning to build nuclear weapons. Although enrichment is legal, Iran's long concealment of the program raised suspicions that it was designed for nuclear weapons.
A senior European diplomat familiar with the talks said the emergency IAEA session would probably take place in the first week in February. He expected the 35-member board of governors would issue an ultimatum to Iran to suspend enrichment research and cooperate fully with IAEA inspectors, or else be referred to the Security Council.
However, officials in Washington said they thought there would be no last chance offered to Iran, but an immediate referral to the Security Council.
Once at the Security Council, Iran could face a series of reprimands. The Security Council could then move to impose travel restrictions and other sanctions targeted at Iranian leaders, and ultimately economic sanctions against the country if Tehran failed to cooperate, the diplomat said.
On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov privately told U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that Moscow wouldn't block a referral to the Security Council, according to U.S. and other officials. China on Thursday called for more talks but didn't say whether it would support a Security Council referral at the IAEA board in Vienna.
It is very clear that everyone believes a very important threshold has been cleared, said Ms. Rice. But, she added, We are not yet ready to talk about specific measures to take against Iran. The U.S. already has economic sanctions against Iran in place.
A senior administration official said U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns would visit Europe and India to coordinate strategy.
Anticipating the European decision, Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former Iran president and head of the country's powerful Expediency Council, told state-run radio that the face-off has become very serious and has reached its climax, the Associated Press reported. He added that Iran would ignore colonial taboos and pursue the most advanced nuclear technology. Iran says its nuclear program is for purely civilian purposes.
Thursday's call from Britain, France and Germany, a grouping known as the EU-3, was an admission of defeat for them. They began their talks with Iran, offering economic and other carrots in return for suspension of Iran's uranium-enrichment program, in the wake of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. At the time, the U.S. was already pushing for Iran to be referred to the Security Council for its failure to reveal that it had an enrichment program. The EU talks, and Iran's resulting temporary suspension of its enrichment program, made it all but impossible for the U.S. to secure a referral.
The U.S. and the EU-3 will still need to assemble a majority among the IAEA board's 35 members to send Iran to the Security Council, which can impose economic sanctions and theoretically authorize the use of force, although that is considered unlikely. But where getting a majority had seemed a tall order just a few months ago, diplomats in Vienna said Iranian defiance on the nuclear issue has cost it the backing of key supporters, including Russia. European negotiators believe their lengthy efforts at negotiating have made this growing consensus possible.
In December, Britain and France began a diplomatic effort to get all five permanent Security Council members to sign a text to present to Tehran, including the U.S., Russia and China. The joint text was never signed, but on Saturday, after Iran said it would restart research on uranium enrichment, representatives from all five countries visited the Iranian permanent mission in Vienna.
A diplomat involved in that initiative said all five carried the same message: Iran must suspend enrichment research and provide IAEA inspectors full access to all sites, documents and people in Iran to create confidence in the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program. The diplomat said presenting Iran with a unified front was important, because all five countries will have to work together at the U.N. in New York, should Iran be referred to the Security Council.
---- Carla Anne Robbins in Washington contributed to this article.