KEY POINTS:
UNITED NATIONS - The UN Security Council voted unanimously today to impose new sanctions on Iran for its nuclear ambitions by targeting Tehran's arms exports, state-owned bank and elite Revolutionary Guards.
The new measures are a follow-up to a resolution adopted on December 23 banning trade in sensitive nuclear materials and ballistic missiles, as well as freezing assets of individuals and institutions associated with atomic programs.
Britain's UN Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry read a statement on behalf of the foreign ministers of major powers that offered further talks with Iran
"We propose further talks with the Islamic Republic of Iran to see if a mutually acceptable way can be found to open negotiations," Jones Parry said on behalf of his own country, the United States, France, Russia, China and Germany.
"In a region that has known too much instability and violence, let us find an agreed way forward that builds confidence and promotes peace and mutual respect," he said.
Speaking before Iran took the floor, US acting ambassador Alejandro Wolff accused Iran of terrorism and the threat by its president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to wipe Israel "off the map" and call the Holocaust "a myth."
"To forget the past, or even worse, attempt to rewrite it is to invite it to be repeated. We cannot allow that to happen," Wolff said.
Ahmadinejad canceled his appearance before the 15-member council because visas for his flight crew were delivered too late for his private plane to arrive in New York before the vote. Washington disputes this.
A commercial flight
Instead, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, who took a commercial flight, came to the council to address suspicions that Iran is developing nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian atomic energy program.
All sanctions would be lifted if Iran halted uranium enrichment, which can be used to make a bomb as well as for energy purposes.
Saturday's Resolution 1747 may affect Iran's economy but does not touch on its oil industry. Iran is the world's fourth largest oil producer.
It imposes an embargo on all conventional weapons Iran can sell and freezes the assets abroad of 28 individuals, institutions and companies, including Bank Sepah, as the United States has already done, isolating it from international financing.
The text calls on -- but does not order -- nations and international financial institutions to restrict new grants, credits and loans to Iran. Western diplomats believe the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund will heed the call.
The resolution also calls for a voluntary travel embargo on Iranian officials and Revolutionary Guard commanders listed in the text and urges restrictions on the import of heavy weapons to Iran.
To get the support of South Africa, Indonesia and Qatar, they added the importance of a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction and highlighted the role of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
South Africa's UN ambassador, Dumisani Kumalo, who had submitted amendments that deleted all the sanctions, said he voted in favour because of Pretoria's opposition to nuclear weapons but criticised the resolution for penalising Iranian institutions beyond the nuclear sphere.
- REUTERS
