Middle East

Diplomats: Iran hinted at suspension

(AP)
Updated: 2007-05-31 10:21

The Security Council first imposed limited sanctions on Iran in December for defying the demand for an enrichment freeze and modestly increased penalties in March. It is now preparing to debate on a third round of punitive measures.

Zalmay Khalilzad, the US Ambassador to the UN, told CNN Wednesday that the United States will seek to have the Security Council expand and tighten the sanctions. He cited possible sanctions on military supplies to Iran "and expanding the economic, financial parts, in terms of travel issues."

"I think we need to look at the whole range of sanctions that need to be applied to increase the incentive of Iran to cooperate on this issue because ... Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons is a huge problem for the entire world," he said.

He said Russia and China, like the United States, "don't want Iran to have nuclear weapons."

Washington and others fear Iran is trying to develop atomic weapons in violation of its commitments under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The worries are fed by two decades of Tehran's clandestine nuclear activities, including questionable black-market acquisitions of equipment and blueprints that appear linked to weapon plans.

Iran denies working on atomic weapons and says the treaty gives it the right to pursue uranium enrichment for peaceful purposes.

Relations between the US and Iran also are strained by Washington's accusation that Tehran is supporting insurgents in Iraq and supplying them with roadside bombs that have killed US troops. Iran denies the claim.

Despite the tensions, the US and Iran held landmark talks in Baghdad earlier this week. Though the ambassador-level meeting was limited to Iraq's security, it was the first formal talks between the two countries since the US broke diplomatic relations with Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and seizure of the US Embassy in Tehran.