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Manouchehr Mottaki
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Major powers delay Iran sanctions move till November

Islamic republic's foreign minister says sanctions won't sway Tehran's 'rational' nuclear policy

The world's major powers agreed on Friday to delay a vote on tougher sanctions against Iran until late November and made it conditional on reports by the UN nuclear watchdog and a European Union negotiator.

 

In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of the United States, Russia, China, Germany, France, Britain and the European Union asked EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana to hold more talks with Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani.

 

"We agree to finalize a text for a third UN Security Council sanctions resolution ... with the intention of bringing it to a vote ... unless the November reports of Dr Solana and (International Atomic Energy Agency chief) Dr (Mohamed) ElBaradei show a positive outcome of their efforts."

 

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Friday that the major powers had drafted a list of 14 possible sanctions that could be taken against Iran over its nuclear program but there was no agreement on any of the measures.

 

Kouchner told reporters after attending a meeting of the United States, Russia, China, France, Germany, Britain and the European Union on Friday that the potential measures ranged from financial and investment freezes to an arms embargo and possible restrictions on oil trading. 

 

He also said he would write this weekend to France's EU partners calling for a discussion on European sanctions on Iran at the next foreign ministers' meeting on October 15.  

 

Iran's foreign minister, said earlier that sanctions would not sway Tehran's "rational" nuclear policy.

 

"Sanctions as a political tool for exerting pressure is ineffective in making Iran change its basically rational policy choice," Manouchehr Mottaki said at a meeting of the Asia Society in New York.

 


פרסום ראשון: 09.28.07, 17:49
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