Big Powers Creep Toward Elusive Deal on Iran at UN 
By Reuters
March 28, 2006
The New York Times
Original Source: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-nuclear-iran.html

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Security Council powers held out hope on Monday for agreement this week on a statement to rein in Iran's nuclear ambitions, but a deal still appeared elusive before a forthcoming ministerial meeting.
``It is now three weeks since the International Atomic Energy Agency board took this matter up and we are going to try and resolve it in the next day or so,'' U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said, referring to the Vienna-based U.N. nuclear watchdog.
He spoke after another meeting with the other four permanent council members -- Britain, France, Russia and China -- and after a briefing to the full 15-member council.
Russia, backed by China, opposes heavy Security Council involvement on Iran, fearing it would lead to punitive measures. Moscow last week proposed gutting a large part of the draft that asks Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment efforts, which could produce weapons-grade fuel.
Tehran says its nuclear research is for peaceful purposes, while the West believes it is a cover for bomb making.
On Thursday, the foreign ministers of the five council powers and Germany are due to meet in Berlin to hammer out strategy and try to break any remaining impasse on the statement.
``We are dealing with nervousness from some of the parties on what will happen next and uncertainties. Russia has particular concerns, including very high equities in Iran,'' a senior British official said in London.
Britain's U.N. ambassador, Emyr Jones Parry, told reporters: ``We need to agree on the text and if possible to have it ready for adoption. If we can finish it before Thursday, we will.''
But he cautioned that the five were only ``edging forward.''
``We're looking now at a mix of different comments on basic texts,'' Jones Parry said. ``We've made a bit of progress but we have quite a lot more progress to make.'' 
RIVAL DRAFTS
Russia, diplomats said, had now submitted a draft statement to counter one from Britain and France and all proposals are to be sent to governments of the five overnight.
``There are all kinds of drafts and all kinds of amendments,'' Bolton said, adding that he, too, ``proposed some compromises that will be reported back to the capitals and we are going to continue to see if we can't reach agreement.''
The last version from the Europeans arrived on Saturday morning, said China's U.N. Ambassador, Wang Guangya.
In Berlin, IAEA director-general Mohamed ElBaradei urged Iran to halt all uranium enrichment work and help revive collapsed nuclear talks between Tehran and the European Union.
``We are not in a position today to say that (Iran's nuclear) program is exclusively for peaceful purposes,'' ElBaradei said.
More than two years of talks between Iran and Germany, France and Britain reached an impasse earlier this year after Iran resumed uranium enrichment research.
At a conference in Berlin, security experts and officials discussed Iran, including the possibility of U.S. military strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities.
Tehran's ambassador to the IAEA said air strikes would not destroy Iran's uranium enrichment activities.
``We can enrich uranium anywhere in Iran, with a vast country,'' Aliasghar Soltaniyeh said, citing Iran's more than 600,000 square mile area.
A report made public on Monday by David Albright and Corey Hinderstein of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security estimates that Iran would need at least three more years, and perhaps much longer, to make nuclear arms, depending on how many problems it runs into on the way.
The report accused anonymous U.S. officials of distorting a briefing given the major powers this month by the IAEA in claiming Iran had made significant gains in mastering the process of enriching uranium to the point it can be used to make bombs.
``Looking at a timeline of at least three years before Iran could have a nuclear weapons capability means that there is still time to pursue aggressive diplomatic options, and time for measures such as sanctions to have an effect, if they become necessary,'' the report concluded.