The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council neared a deal Friday on a resolution that would give Iran until the end of August to suspend uranium enrichment or face the threat of economic and diplomatic sanctions. Diplomats said the resolution would probably be introduced to the full 15-member council later Friday and adopted next week. Because of Russian and Chinese demands, the text is weaker than earlier drafts, which would have made the threat of sanctions immediate. The draft now essentially requires the council to hold further discussions before it considers sanctions. “There (are) no sanctions introduced on Iran in the draft resolution which we are finalizing,” Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said. Churkin stressed that work on the resolution was not finished, raising the possibility the introduction of the draft could be postponed. The resolution, drafted by Britain, France and Germany with U.S. backing, is a followup to a July 12 agreement – by the foreign ministers of those four countries, plus Russia and China – to refer Tehran to the Security Council for not responding to incentives to suspend enrichment.
The ministers asked that council members adopt a resolution making Iran's suspension of enrichment activities mandatory. Tehran said last week it would reply Aug. 22 to the Western incentive package, but the council decided to go ahead with a resolution and not wait for Iran's response. Iran on Friday called again for international negotiations on its nuclear ambitions and said it was considering the incentives. Western nations have dismissed the idea of such talks without a halt to Iran's uranium enrichment.