UN Council nears deal on Iran nuclear resolution

UNITED NATIONS - Major powers expect to send to the full UN Security Council today a draft resolution telling Iran to suspend nuclear work by August 31 or face the threat of sanctions if it refuses.

US Ambassador John Bolton said he expected the text to be adopted next week as the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China, permanent council members with veto power, as well as Germany, were close to a deal.

The draft is expected to say Iran should suspend all uranium enrichment-related and plutonium reprocessing activities and construction of a heavy-water reactor.

But changes are still possible, even after the draft resolution is introduced to the 15-member council, and diplomats said the United States might ask for some.

Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin emphasized that the draft did not impose sanctions but agreed to "discuss" further measures if Iran did not adhere to the resolution's demands.

Hopefully, he said, Iran would comply with the resolution and engage in discussions on commercial and technological incentives, drawn up by the European Union.

However, Churkin said requirements by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog, that Iran suspend nuclear work "cannot just not be brushed aside."

Bolton stressed that the draft imposed a "mandatory and binding requirement" for Iran to comply with IAEA demands.

He told reporters that if Iran failed to comply, "we will move to sanctions in the Security Council."

"This is a mandatory command (for) Iran to comply with IAEA resolutions that have been repeatedly adopted that they need to suspend their uranium enrichment activity," he said.

Tehran has vigorously objected to the resolution and says its nuclear activities are to produce electrical power only. It has also indicated it might withdraw from the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, if the resolution were adopted.

At a July 12 meeting in Paris, all six countries agreed Iran had given no indication it would accept an incentive package and referred the issue to the council.

Iran is building a heavy-water nuclear reactor at Arak, 190km southwest of Tehran. Western nations are concerned the plant's plutonium by-product could be used to produce nuclear warheads.

- REUTERS