Security Council split on Iran sanctions draft

U.S. expectations that a tough response to North Korea’s nuclear test would inspire swift action against Iran for its nuclear ambitions appeared to diminish Thursday, amid signs of wider divisions and hardening positions on the U.N. Security Council.

It will take “weeks and weeks” of negotiations for a new sanctions resolution for Iran, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Thursday after a meeting of the council’s five veto-holding members. “A lot of work has still to be done,” he said. “A lot of work.”

China and Russia overcame their traditional reluctance to impose sanctions after North Korea ignored the Security Council’s warnings and conducted a nuclear test Oct. 9.

U.S. officials heralded the unanimous support for tough measures against the government in Pyongyang as a sign of new unity on the Security Council to stop weapons proliferation.

But those hopes were short-lived.

Russia and China have rejected a new draft resolution that would call Iran a “threat to international peace and security” and would bar all Iranian trade in nuclear and missile technology. Although both countries agreed to impose sanctions if Iran flouted a July 31 resolution, they said the new draft was too punitive.

“Since the door for diplomatic efforts is still open, why should we rush to sanctions?” Chinese envoy Li Junhua said to reporters at the United Nations, noting that an incentives package designed by the Europeans was still on the table. “Sanctions, in our assessment, will not help.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei V. Lavrov, speaking to journalists while visiting Salekhard in northwestern Siberia, said the proposed resolution did not match the previously agreed position of the permanent Security Council members -- Russia, the U.S., Britain, China and France -- and Germany. He did not specify the differences.

The Iran resolution, drafted by France, calls for some of the same measures imposed on North Korea: a ban on trade linked to nuclear development, and a travel ban and asset freeze for officials connected to the missile and nuclear programs. It also prohibits travel or study visas for Iranian nationals involved in specialized training that could contribute to the country’s nuclear and missile programs.

Like the North Korea resolution, the Iran draft calls for enforcement of sanctions without military action -- a new formulation designed to allay Chinese and Russian fears that the resolution could provide cover for an invasion similar to that of Iraq.

But China, Russia and other council members argue that sanctions on Iran should be much lighter because Tehran’s infractions are not as serious.

Tehran is facing Security Council action because it has rejected the council’s demand to stop enriching uranium -- a process that can be used to make fuel for a power plant or material for a nuclear weapon.

Iran has blocked U.N. inspectors from some of its facilities and has been unable to provide verifiable evidence that its nuclear program, developed covertly over 18 years, is for purely peaceful purposes.

Iran denies it is pursuing nuclear weapons, and it remains a member of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, unlike North Korea, which dropped out of the treaty, conducted a nuclear test and has boasted of its nuclear weapons capability.

Some diplomats think that North Korea could have been persuaded to come back to the table, and that the isolation and financial sanctions by Washington only deepened Pyongyang’s determination to build a nuclear bomb. Sanctions against Iran could push it to the edge as well, they argue, and should be imposed only after exhausting other measures, such as direct U.S. talks.

Such talks “would have been useful and will be useful,” said Russia’s deputy ambassador, Konstantin Dolgov. “Iran is a separate track, but Russia has always held that sanctions are not effective. Negotiations in good faith can be.”

Diplomats from the European countries leading negotiations with Iran -- Britain, France and Germany -- have urged Washington to talk to Tehran.

But U.S. officials say direct talks would reward bad behavior.

The draft also exempts a Russian-built nuclear plant in Bushehr, Iran, from sanctions, a concession to Moscow but a rejection of the U.S. position that work there should be halted because it could mask delivery of nuclear material related to a weapons program.

A Russian official said construction would continue, including delivery of plutonium to fuel the plant in the first half of 2007.

“We hope we’ll carry the project through to the end,” said Alexander Glukhov, vice president of Atomstroiexport, the state firm overseeing the plant’s construction, the Russian news agency Interfax reported.

maggie.farley@latimes.com

Times staff writer David Holley in Moscow contributed to this report.