Report: Further Iran sanctions expected
French diplomat says six key nations likely to issue Tuesday new draft resolution pressuring Iran over atomic works
The UN Security Council's five permanent members and Germany are expected to agree Tuesday on a new draft resolution to pressure Iran over its nuclear program, a French diplomat said.
The senior diplomat, who briefed reporters Monday on condition that he not be identified by name, said an agreement was very close and should be finalized by the six nations' foreign ministers at a meeting Tuesday in Berlin.
He would not give details on the resolution, but said it would be "very balanced, very firm" and likely be presented to the UN Security Council for debate by the end of the month. "We are really very close," he said.
The Security Council has issued two resolutions on Iran imposing international sanctions over its defiance of international demands that it suspend uranium enrichment. The United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany have been discussing for months a third UN resolution.
Tuesday's meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Berlin comes in the wake of last month's US intelligence assessment that Tehran stopped active work on a nuclear weapons program in 2003. Iran insists it never had a weapons program and that its uranium enrichment is aimed at energy production.
Opposition from Russia and China to quick and harsh new sanctions has increased since the US intelligence estimate, but Western nations have stressed the need to keep up the pressure.
