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Security Council seeks united front on Tehran
 The UN Security Council strove Wednesday to present a united front on the Iran nuclear crisis the thorniest issue to confront the world body since Iraq three years ago. The council's five veto-wielding permanent members, Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, held talks in the morning their fifth round of discussions since the issue was referred to the UN by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) a week ago. The talks in the US mission focused on the wording of a text proposed by Britain and France as a first step in securing a unified Security Council response to the Iran question. "Discussions among the [permanent five] continue and in the light of those we'll see how soon we can bring a text forward formally in the council and get it agreed," said the British ambassador to the UN, Emyr Jones Parry. The so-called "P5" circulated the Franco-British text to the council's 10 non-permanent members for the first time on Tuesday. The proposed document calls on Iran to accede to all IAEA demands and immediately halt any activities linked to nuclear enrichment. It also urges Iran to reconsider the construction of a heavy water research reactor and to resume implementation of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty's Additional Protocol that allows for wider inspections of a country's nuclear facilities. And it requests IAEA head Mohammad Al Baradei to report on Iranian compliance with the demands within 14 days. The figure "14" is between brackets, signifying that the precise deadline is still under debate. Jones Parry said the P5 was pushing for the document to be presented as a presidential statement, which is nonbinding but requires the approval of all 15 Security Council members. Posted by: Fred 2006-03-16 |
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