U.N. weighs ban on Iranian arms exports

The Security Council on Thursday began considering new sanctions against Iran that would ban the country’s arms exports and expand a list of people and organizations whose assets are to be frozen because of their ties to its nuclear activities.

The draft resolution also calls on governments and financial institutions to not offer Iran financial assistance, except for humanitarian and developmental purposes, though it does not include restrictions on export credits as originally envisioned.

The penalties would go beyond the sanctions imposed by the council in December to compel Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment program.

They would target, among others, officials and companies affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, which oversees strategic Iranian interests, including oil, gas and its missile program. Russia, however, has objected to singling out the military unit, saying that it has little to do with the nuclear program and that such language would politicize the resolution.

French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, at the U.N. on a previously scheduled visit, said the sanctions package contained both carrots and sticks.

“These measures are gradual and reversible,” he said. “That means that if in 60 days we have no answer, we will have more sanctions.”

But if Iran chooses to halt its program and return to negotiations, De Villepin added, it can receive economic and technical help to build its civilian nuclear energy program.

“This approach is constructive, positive, and the only way to get results,” he said.

Iran has rejected a European incentives package because it would not allow it to keep full control of its nuclear program.

Bowing to objections by Russia and China, a travel ban on designated individuals was dropped from the draft, which instead calls for governments to notify a U.N. sanctions committee when those people pass through their territory.

The text also relaxed a ban on conventional arms sales to Iran and instead asked for nations to “exercise vigilance and restraint” in transferring heavy arms to Iran. Material related to Iran’s nuclear and missile programs was banned in the December resolution.

The Security Council’s five permanent members -- the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia -- along with Germany, hammered out the text, then presented it Thursday to the council’s other 10 countries.

The 10 said they wanted ample time to consider the draft resolution and make changes, if necessary, though the key members are hoping for a vote before Wednesday.

In central Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a rally that “issuing such torn pieces of paper ... will not have an impact on [the] Iranian nation’s will,” according to the official news agency, IRNA.

Ahmadinejad wants to make Iran’s case before the Security Council vote next week and has applied to the State Department for visas for himself, the vice president, foreign minister and 35 others, diplomats said.

Dumisani Kumalo of South Africa, the council president, said it was only fair for Iran to have its say in the long fight over the country’s fate, but Alejandro Wolff, the acting U.S. ambassador, said he was surprised that Ahmadinejad wanted to come to New York.

“I find it again ironic that President Ahmadinejad, who is quoted today as saying that he tears up Security Council resolutions and has no respect for what the Security Council says, is interested in coming and addressing the council,” he said.

Despite moderate resistance from Russia and China, which have insisted that the measures not harm the Iranian people or the prospects for bringing Iran back to the table, the process and the sanctions have borne out U.S. hopes for the resolution to be “modest and quick.”

The text includes assurances that the council will suspend the sanctions if Iran suspends enrichment of uranium, which can be used to produce nuclear energy or, if highly enhanced, for atomic weapons. But if Iran fails to comply within 60 days, it could face further penalties.

Although the earlier sanctions have affected Iran’s economy, they have not persuaded Tehran to halt its nuclear program.

Iran ignored the last resolution’s Feb. 21 deadline, and instead accelerated the enrichment program. It says it has the right to continue a peaceful nuclear energy program.

maggie.farley@latimes.com