The Times of India Online http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1468444.cms _____ UNSC 'very close' to Iran deal: Diplomats [ Wednesday, March 29, 2006 10:36:51 amAP ] UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council was "very close" to a deal on confronting Iran over its suspect nuclear program for the first time, after three weeks of difficult negotiations, diplomats said. Britain and France, backed by the United States, distributed a proposal for a Security Council statement late Tuesday that removed some language opposed by Russia and China but still demands that Iran stop uranium enrichment, the process that can help produce a nuclear bomb. So far, Tehran has refused. The move followed three meetings within eight hours among the five veto-wielding members of the council to discuss a unified stance. The West, which believes Iran is seeking a nuclear weapon, hoped to reach a deal before the foreign ministers from the five nations and Germany meet in Berlin on Thursday to discuss strategy toward Iran. "We have reached agreement on the bulk of the text, so there was movement on all sides, and now we need to see whether we can cross this last bridge but we're very close," US Ambassador John Bolton said. Iran, which insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, was defiant. The government released a statement through its embassy in Moscow earlier Tuesday warning that UN Security Council intervention would "escalate tensions, entailing negative consequences that would be of benefit to no party." In the same statement, Iran said it had proposed setting up a nuclear fuel production facility within its borders with international help. The proposal is an alternative to Russia's offer to host Iran's nuclear fuel production as a way to ease concerns that enrichment conducted in Iran could be used to develop weapons. Russia said its enrichment offer was contingent on Iran resuming a moratorium on domestic enrichment, but the Iranians rejected that link. "In terms of satisfying its needs, Tehran cannot remain dependent on international suppliers,'' the Iranian government said in the statement. It was not clear whether the offer differed from one that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made before the UN General Assembly last September. At that time, he offered foreign countries and companies a role in uranium enrichment inside Iran. In New York, diplomats said the full 15-member Security Council would meet on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the revised text. They stressed that there were still some differences. "I think that we are making progress, but I think we are not yet at the final stage," China's UN Ambassador Wang Guangya said. The council has struggled for three weeks to come up with a written rebuke that would urge Iran to comply with demands from the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, that it suspend uranium enrichment. Bolton expressed a hint of exasperation with other members of the council on Tuesday, telling reporters: "We have been incredibly flexible. Incredibly flexible. I probably have never been more flexible." Russia and China, which are allies of Iran and oppose sanctions, fear that the statement under consideration could be the first step in a process that could lead to punitive measures by the council and possibly even military action. As a result, they want any council statement to make explicit that the IAEA must take the lead in confronting Iran. The West believes council action will help isolate Iran and put new pressure on it to clear up their suspicions about its intentions. Stoking the Russian and Chinese fears, they have proposed an incremental approach, refusing to rule out sanctions. US officials have said the threat of military action must also remain on the table. It was too early to say if the latest text circulated Tuesday would satisfy the Chinese and the Russians, but it makes several concessions. Among them, it gives IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei 30 days to report back to both his agency's board of governors and the Security Council on Iran's progress in meeting the demands. Previous texts had set a 14 day deadline. The new text also goes into less detail than earlier drafts about the demands that the IAEA has made to Iran. In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Tuesday that Iran was a menace for reasons other than its alleged drive to build a nuclear bomb and that the US and its allies have "a number of tools" if Tehran does not change its ways. She claimed strong international backing for the US position that Iran must not be allowed to continue what she claimed is a covert effort to gain bomb-making expertise and technology. "We need now to broaden that thinking and that coalition, not just to what Iran is doing on the nuclear side but also what they're doing on terrorism," Rice said. "Those are some of the discussions that I have with these same states." _____ CBennett, Coleman and Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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