Eurasia Press & News
TEHRAN (FNA) – A new UN Security Council resolution calling for sanctions against Iran over its refusal to halt its nuclear program was officially introduced Thursday by Britain and France, the British envoy to the UN said.“The text that we’ve circulated today (Thursday) reflects some of the comments we’ve had back from delegations,” John Sawers told Ria Novosti, adding the draft resolution was agreed in principle last month during a meeting of foreign ministers from six nations – France, Germany, Britain, the US, China, Russia.
The envoy said, “This is as part of our twin-track approach of requiring Iran to suspend their most sensitive nuclear activities and to abide by the requests of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for full transparency.”
The document calls for further sanctions against two Iranian banks, inspections of air freight and shipping companies – Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line – and calls for tighter vigilance by those countries trading or issuing loans to Tehran.
Another change to the original document is a mandatory travel ban on Iranians already subject to sanctions. Previously the resolution called for a discretionary travel ban on entry and transit of individuals.
The draft document also calls for the nuclear watchdog IAEA and European Union (EU) to support Iran and to strengthen diplomatic ties with the six nations to resolve the problem over Iran’s nuclear program.
This is while diplomatic sources at the IAEA said that IAEA chief and his deputies have entered a session to make a final decision about an impending report on Iran’s nuclear activities, informed diplomatic sources in the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Friday.
The sources who asked to remain anonymous due to the confidentiality of the issue, told FNA that Mohamed ElBaradei would present his report to the IAEA Board of Governors following the current meeting.
According to the IAEA procedures, the report which will be wrapped up within hours would be publicized once it is presented to the Governing Board members through the agency’s website.
The report will officially be presented to the Board of Governors in a session on March, 3 2008.
Sources also said that the US, Britain and Israel have exerted much pressure on the UN nuclear chief to force him to change his technical report which, according to the said diplomats, would endorse non-diversion of Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities.
The diplomats also told FNA that ElBaradei’s report will benefit Iran and would undermine rationale for the two sets of UN Security Council sanctions imposed on Iran so far.
Sources said that ElBaradei will likely announce a full implementation of an action plan on the basis of which Iran was to provide convincing responses to the IAEA questions about its past nuclear activities, including sources of uranium spots on Iran’s nuclear machines, C1 and C2 centrifuges and four more ambiguities which existed about Iran’s activities and programs.
The UN nuclear watchdog agency chief will, thus, announce the end of IAEA’s four-year-long probe into Iran’s case, the diplomats said, adding, “ElBaradei will likely announce that according to the survey findings, Iran’s nuclear activities have been peaceful, and thus, the country’s case should be normalized.”
After four years of allegations by the US-led West about the non-peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear activities and after a long-time ploy by the western countries that the IAEA has not been able to wrap up a probe into the nature of Iran’s nuclear programs, the report to be presented by ElBaradei within hours seems to play a decisive role in annulling west’s claims about Iran’s nuclear drive.
