China and Russia Support Sending Iran Case to U.N. 
By Steven R. Weisman 
January 31, 2006
The New York Times
Original Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/31/international/middleeast/31diplo.html

LONDON, Tuesday, Jan. 31 — The United States and Europe, after hours of negotiations on Iran, won support from Russia and China early Tuesday to refer Iran's nuclear activities to the United Nations Security Council this week, but with a promise that the Council would not act on the question for at least a month.
Bush administration officials described the decision, by senior envoys and ministers from the major nuclear powers and Germany and the European Union, as a breakthrough in the effort to press Iran to give up nuclear activities that the West suspects to be a nuclear weapons program.
This is certainly the most decisive action taken on Iran by the international community in years, a senior State Department official said at a briefing. This is a clear signal that the international community are saying, 'Enough.' 
A statement this morning by the top foreign officials of China, Russia, the United States and leading European countries also called on Iran to restore the suspension of all uranium enrichment, including activities restarted this month, when it broke internationally monitored seals at a plant in Natanz.
The statement on Iran, capping a day of urgent activity by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other diplomats, was issued after meetings on what the West should do after the victory of Hamas last week in the Palestinian elections. In those sessions, the United States joined with Europe, Russia and the United Nations to rule out an immediate suspension of aid to the Palestinian Authority. American officials said international aid could continue until Hamas took office in a few months.
The decision reflects an effort to buy time to avert an immediate crisis in the Midddle East, where the Palestinian Authority is nearly bankrupt. 
On Iran, the State Department official, briefing under ground rules requiring anonymity, said the decision was significant because it was the first time Russia and China had joined in formally demanding that Iran step back from the crisis it helped provoke. 
Russia and China had resisted the American and European demand for an early referral from the International Atomic Energy Agency to the Security Council, fearing that Iran would follow through on threats to expel international inspectors. Russia had proposed to avoid a confrontation by having the issue sent to the Security Council, as a matter of information, but without formally transferring it in a manner that paved the way for Council action.
The compromise worked out on Monday night and Tuesday morning, at the home of British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, was that Iran would indeed be referred — the word used was reported —reflecting an actual transfer of its dossier, but that the Council would not act until an atomic energy agency meeting in March.
The compromise on the technical question of an informational report versus a formal referral, hammered out over dinner at Mr. Straw's house, appeared to mean that Russia and China would not simply let the international atomic agency act, but also possibly vote in favor of it rather than abstain.
A yes vote by them was the clear implication of the statement their foreign ministers signed, the American official said.
The action on Iran was the culmination of months of efforts by the United States, as well as Britain France and Germany, to ratchet up the pressure on Iran and rebuff its threats to halt what little cooperation remains on its nuclear programs.
Earlier on Monday in Brussels, the foreign ministers of those countries as well as the ministers of the European Union, met with a top Iranian envoy, who presented a new proposal to avert a confrontation. But European and American officials said Iran continued to insist on carrying out activities opposed in the West.
In meeting on the Palestinian government issue, the envoys noted that President Mahmoud Abbas and many of his ministers remained in office while Hamas assembled its government. The diplomats urged measures to facilitate the work of the caretaker government to stabilize public finances and institute reforms.
There is a commitment here to try and live up to the obligations that were undertaken to the caretaker government, which Abu Mazen oversees, Ms. Rice said, referring to Mr. Abbas. We do believe that Abu Mazen deserves to be supported.
As expected, the envoys also warned that most Western donors would cut off aid if Hamas took power and failed to renounce its commitment to violence and the destruction of Israel. American officials said they were far from disappointed over the failure of the statement to commit all countries to halting aid. This is going to ring bells, a State Department official said, referring to the likely reaction by Hamas. This is a very tough statement. 
The Palestinian Authority receives $1 billion a year from outside donations, much of it to pay salaries and subsidize food, health and education. Its expenses run $600 million a year, partly because it raised salaries last year in an effort to shore up Mr. Abbas's Fatah Party. 
At least officially, Ms. Rice and the other top officials in the so-called quartet that supervises the Middle East peace talks continue to hold out hope that Hamas might change its ways when it is in office. The officials hold that view despite many statements by Hamas leaders that they have no such intention.
A senior European official said the purpose of buying time was not only to head off a crisis, but also to avoid prejudging Hamas as it assembles its government. That could include officials who are not party members with whom the West could deal in spite of labeling Hamas itself as a terrorist organization, said the official, who was not authorized to speak for the record. 
The envoys meeting here belong to the foursome, the European Union, Russia, the United States and the United Nations. Its main contribution has been a road map plan that calls for reciprocal steps by Israel and the Palestinians leading to a Palestinian state. For nearly three years, however, neither side has completed even the first phase. Since the Hamas victory, President Bush and Ms. Rice have been saying that the United States will cut off aid unless a Hamas-led government renounces its longstanding tenets on armed struggle with Israel.
Mr. Bush reiterated that point on Monday, saying at a cabinet meeting, The Hamas Party has made it clear that they do not support the right of Israel to exist, and I have made it clear that so long as that's their policy that we will not support a Palestinian government made up of Hamas.
American officials have suggested that there is no intention of provoking a quick crisis. We want to see them afloat, we want them to have a government, and we want the next government to deal with the reality that it's got to govern, said the senior State Department official who does not have the authority to speak for the record.
Ms. Rice has not made clear what aid Washington would provide or withhold if a Hamas-led government takes over. She left open the possibility that the administration might permit some programs to meet Palestinians' humanitarian needs.