The UN security council is likely to impose fresh sanctions on Iran if it fails to suspend its nuclear enrichment programme, it emerged today.
After a meeting of the permanent security council members, plus Germany, in London today, the group agreed to finalise the text for a third UN resolution.
Officials from Britain, France, Germany and the US - all in favour of sanctions - met representatives of China and Russia, which had previously blocked attempts to increase pressure on Tehran.
However, today’s unanimous agreement suggests that Moscow and Beijing are now ready to increase the pressure on the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2204240,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront
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German opposition MPs reject new anti-Iran sanctions
Two leading German opposition lawmakers on Friday opposed US and Israeli calls for further sanctions against Iran, while stressing the need for diplomatic talks to finally resolve the dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Talking to the Suedwestrundfunk (SWR) broadcasting station, the deputy head of the Green fraction, Juergen Trittin said new sanctions were out of place at this time.
The International Atomic Energy Agency verified only recently that Tehran was cooperating “excellently” with the UN nuclear watchdog and there was no evidence for a production of Iranian nuclear weapons, Trittin was quoted saying.
Therefore, any accusations against Moscow and Beijing of being too lenient towards Iran were “unjustified”, the Green legislator added.
Trittin made clear that the sanction pressure was merely an expression of US and Israeli plans.
He warned that any attempt to force Iran to abandon its uranium enrichment would lead to a “dead-end-street.”
Meanwhile, the disarmament spokesman of The Left (Die Linke) party fraction, Paul Schaefer lambasted US military and sanction threats against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
In a press release, the radical leftist MP urged “de-escalation and a constructive factual relevance” as a prerequisite for continued negotiations aimed at resolving the Iranian nuclear dispute.
Schaefer called for stronger support of talks between the European Union and Iran, in addition to launching direct negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
He lashed out at US President George W.Bush for escalating the situation by leveling harsher sanctions and military threats against Iran.
Schaefer criticized also the German government for “non-chalantly ignoring IAEA reports and assessments” on Iran, while urging Berlin to distance itself from America’s hardline anti-Iran policy.
http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0711025909194608.htm
