Russia and China move closer to Iran sanctions
Richard Moore
good move for Iran to agree to export its Uranium to Russia for
processing, in order to take the wind out of US sails. Israel as
usual is governed by paranoid projections. The US seeks a precedent
for fully-authorized UN invasions, in its decades-long campaign to
end national sovereignty. China, as always, is inscrutable. Iran,
which has done nothing wrong whatsoever, is caught in the middle.
The US complaint, that Iran could develop nuclear weapons is
ridiculous. One might as well sanction a nation because it has
enough money that it could buy nuclear weapons on the black market.
rkm _____
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/28/world/28nuke.html
[cid:32F6E1E1-D70D-4378-9721-328D8C53D336@home]<http://www.nytimes.com/>
November 28, 2009 Russia and China Endorse Agencys Rebuke of Iran
By HELENE
COOPER<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/helene_co
oper/index.html?inline=nyt-per> and WILLIAM J.
BROAD<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/william_j_
broad/index.html?inline=nyt-per>
WASHINGTON The United
Nations<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/u
nited_nations/index.html?inline=nyt-org> nuclear watchdog demanded
Friday that
Iran<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories
/iran/index.html?inline=nyt-geo> immediately freeze operations at
a once secret uranium enrichment
plant<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/26/world/middleeast/26nuke.html>, a
sharp rebuke that bore added weight because it was endorsed by
Russia and China.
The governing body of the watchdog, the International Atomic Energy
Agency<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/i/in
ternational_atomic_energy_agency/index.html?inline=nyt-org>, meeting
in Vienna, also expressed serious concern about potential military
aspects ofIrans nuclear
program<http://www.nytimes.com/info/iran-nuclear-program?inline=nyt-classifie
r>.
Administration officials held up the statement as a victory for
President
Obama<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/barack_oba
ma/index.html?inline=nyt-per>s diplomatic efforts to coax both
Russia and China to increase the pressure on Iran. They said that
they had begun working on a sanctions package, which would be brought
before the United Nations Security
Council<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/s/s
ecurity_council/index.html?inline=nyt-org> if Iran did not meet the
year-end deadline imposed by Mr. Obama to make progress on the
issue.
Todays overwhelming vote at the I.A.E.A.s Board of Governors
demonstrates the resolve and unity of the international community
with regard to Irans nuclear program, the White House spokesman,
Robert
Gibbs<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/robert_gib
bs/index.html?inline=nyt-per>, said in a statement. Indeed, the
fact that 25 countries from all parts of the world cast their votes
in favor shows the urgent need for Iran to address the growing
international deficit of confidence in its intentions.
In recent weeks, the Obama administration has been painstakingly
wooing Russia and China, the two permanent members of the Security
Council most averse to imposing sanctions.
Russias president, Dmitri A.
Medvedev<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/dmitri_
a_medvedev/index.html?inline=nyt-per>, has rewarded the administrations
outreach on missile defense with stronger statements signaling more
willingness to impose sanctions on Iran. After meeting with Mr.
Obama in Singapore earlier this month, Mr. Medvedev said he was not
happy about how long it was taking Iran to
respond<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/world/asia/16prexy.html> to
an offer to move its enriched uranium out of the country for further
processing, adding that other measures might have to be considered.
Persuading China has, so far, proven more difficult. After meeting
with Mr.
Obama in Beijing, Chinas president, Hu Jintao, said nothing about
additional pressure on
Iran<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/world/asia/18prexy.html>.
But administration officials said that behind the scenes they had
been working hard to get China on board, and expressed hope that
those efforts would pay off. Before Mr. Obama traveled to Beijing
this month, the United States sent two senior National Security
Council<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/n
ational_security_council/index.html?inline=nyt-org> officials, Jeff
Bader and Dennis Ross, to China to make a personal case for why the
United States was so concerned about Irans nuclear program,
administration officials said.
Iranian officials insist that the nations nuclear program is for
nuclear
energy<http://www.nytimes.com/info/nuclear-energy?inline=nyt-classifier>,
although many nations believe Iran is trying to develop nuclear
weapons<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/atomic_weapons/inde
x.html?inline=nyt-classifier>.
Rahm
Emanuel<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/e/rahm_ema
nuel/index.html?inline=nyt-per>, the White House chief of staff,
said Chinas support on Iran and its decision to set a climate change
goal<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/27/science/earth/27climate.html>
on Thursday showed that Mr. Obamas trip to Beijing was producing
results despite criticism of the visit. This is the product of
engagement, Mr. Emanuel said, adding that it was a direct result
of the trip.
But even as the United States and its Western allies were exulting
over the step by an agency often accused of being too soft on Iran,
administration officials and foreign policy experts cautioned that
the largely symbolic resolution was a long way from meaningful
sanctions from the Security Council.
Indeed, although the resolution approved on Friday in Vienna is the
first time that the I.A.E.A.s board has demanded an immediate halt
to construction of the Iran uranium enrichment facility at
Qum<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/world/middleeast/17nuke.html>, it
falls short of the diplomatic step of finding Iran in formal
noncompliance or violation of its nonproliferation commitments,
which would provide strong evidence to bolster the drive for a new
round of sanctions.
Administration officials and Western diplomats were still holding
out hope, however slim, that a negotiated deal with Iran before the
end of the year may be possible.
For one thing, even if Russia and China do end up agreeing to
additional sanctions, such measures have so far had little effect
on Irans behavior.
Beyond that there is the Israeli governments running threat, or
bluff, that it may take military action against Iran in 2010 if
negotiations fail an action that could provoke Iranian retaliation
against United States troops in neighboring Afghanistan.
The proposal to ship Irans uranium out of the
country<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/21/world/middleeast/21nuke.html>,
where it would be processed into nuclear fuel for use in a medical
reactor in Tehran, is still on the table, a senior administration
official said Friday.
But, he added, time is running short.
The demand by the I.A.E.A. board for the immediate suspension of
construction at the Qum enrichment plant was the first time it had
made such a demand of Tehran. Iran has told the agency that it plans
to complete the half-built facility, which is tunneled into the
side of a mountain, by 2011.
The vote was 27 in favor, 3 against and 5 abstentions. China and
Russia voted for the rebuke.
Irans nuclear efforts involve hundreds of sites, programs and planned
facilities. The closest the international agencys board had previously
come to demanding a halt to the establishment of a new plant came
in 2006 when it requested that Iran reconsider the construction of
a nuclear reactor at Arak. Western experts fear that Iran could use
the Arak reactor, on which it continues to work, to make plutonium
fuel for nuclear warheads.
Daryl G. Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association,
a private group based in Washington, called the resolution the
appropriate censure given the Qum disclosure. The revelation has
led to an important shift in opinion at the board and probably at
the Security Council, he said.
Patience with Iran is running out and, more importantly, Qum severely
undercuts Irans claims that its nuclear program is for peaceful
purposes.
The resolution was the first against Iran by the agencys 35-nation
Board of Governors since February 2006. At that time, the board
criticized Irans many failures and breaches of its obligations to
inform the agency of its nuclear activities, as well as its defiance
in ignoring calls for the suspension of uranium enrichment.
Helene Cooper reported from Washington, and William J. Broad from
New York.
Copyright 2009<http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html>
The New York Times Company<http://www.nytco.com/>
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