Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/iran2unsc012408.html
UNITED NATIONS, January 24 -- A new proposed sanctions resolution directed at Iran will be unveiled Friday to the UN Security Council's ten elected members, at the UK Mission to the UN on 47th Street. On Thursday a Security Council diplomat who insisted on being identified this way told Inner City Press that the proposal, which he insisted was fully agreed to by all five permanent Council members plus Germany while meeting in Berlin, is new in that it includes travel ban on select Iranians. But China's Ambassador Wang had told reporters that the new resolution will involve only "vigilance" on the travel patterns of these individuals. Whether there is in fact agreement among all of the Permanent Five is a matter of skepticism. That the list of individuals to be impacted is being withheld, even from ten countries asked to approve the sanctions, does not bode well.
The Council diplomat was asked Thursday why new sanctions were being prepared. "Because they work," he said, pointing to Iran's renewed efforts to address outstanding issues with the International Atomic Energy Agency. "Sanctions have worked on the outstanding issues," he said, "but not yet on enrichment." Of Iran he said, still insisting on anonymity, that "they have lied in the past" and "they are buying stuff not needed for civilian nuclear" power. He predicted that the toughest "sells" on the Council will be Libya, South Africa, Indonesia and Vietnam. South African Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo recently said that his country wants to be consulted early in the drafting process. Libya's Ambassador, in assuming the presidency of the Security Council for this month, said that as a country which had suffered under sanctions, he would have difficulty voting to impose them on others.
Update: A meeting on the proposed
