U.S. Accuses Iran of Stalling U.N. Peace Bid

The Reagan Administration today accused Iran of trying to obstruct and delay U.N. peace efforts and said the world body should move toward sanctions quickly unless there is a change in Iran’s “negative” attitude.

The Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, Said Rajaie-Khorassani, said Tuesday that his nation neither accepted nor rejected a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire in the Iran-Iraq War.

Under the resolution, if either side rejects the peace call, the Security Council is obliged to move toward a second resolution that would impose an arms embargo and other economic sanctions on the recalcitrant party.

Council, U.S. Denounced

While the Iranian envoy said publicly that he neither accepted nor rejected the cease-fire, his reply included a bitter denunciation of the council and the United States.

“Regrettably the Iranian response seems to be essentially a denunciation of the resolution and a diatribe against the Security Council and the United States,” State Department spokesman Charles E. Redman said.

He characterized the response as part of the “obstructionism and delaying tactics that Iran has engaged in in the 3 1/2 weeks since Resolution 598 was approved.”

“We would still welcome some sign of Iranian interest in compliance with Resolution 598 and the door is still open to Iranian acceptance,” Redman said. “However, unless there is a change in the Iranians’ present negative position . . . then we believe that the council must move quickly to consider enforcement measures.”

Redman said the next opportunity for a change in the Iranian attitude could come if Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Mohammed Jawad Larijani, meets with U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar in New York later this month while attending a U.N. disarmament conference.

Iraq had accepted the Security Council call for a cease-fire.