WESTERN POWERS have called for tighter sanctions on Iran over a new UN report that says it may be trying to develop nuclear weapons, but the idea faces opposition from Russia and China.
France and Britain said they would pursue new sanctions against Iran in the wake of the report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which claimed it had information indicating Tehran had carried out tests “relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device”.
The report said intelligence suggested Iran had worked on atom bomb triggers and computer-simulated detonations.
France immediately called for a meeting of the UN Security Council, while Britain said the standoff was entering a more dangerous phase and the risk of conflict would increase if Iran did not negotiate.
“Convening the UN Security Council is called for,” French foreign minister Alain Juppé said. “If Iran refuses to meet the demands of the international community and refuses any serious co-operation, we stand ready to adopt, with other willing countries, sanctions on an unprecedented scale.”
Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu said the report corroborated Israel’s belief that Iran was working on nuclear weapons, which “endangered the peace of the world and of the Middle East”.
Speculation about an imminent attack on Iran spread last week when Israel test-launched a long-range missile near Tel Aviv and following comments by Mr Netanyahu that Tehran’s nuclear programme posed a “direct and heavy” threat.
Iran insists it wants nuclear energy only for electricity. It said yesterday the UN report was based on forged information from western intelligence agencies and would not deflect it from its nuclear programme.
“You should know that this nation will not pull back even a needle’s width from the path it is on,” Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a speech carried live on state TV.
The security council has already imposed four rounds of sanctions on Iran since 2006 over its nuclear programme. But British foreign minister William Hague said further options were open to target the Iranian financial, oil and gas sectors, and entities and individuals involved in the nuclear programme.
“We are entering a more dangerous phase,” he said. “The longer Iran goes on pursuing a nuclear weapons programme without responding adequately to calls for negotiations from the rest of us, the greater the risk of a conflict.”
Further sanctions are likely to meet resistance from Russia and China. Russian deputy foreign minister Gennady Gatilov warned new sanctions would be seen as an “instrument of regime change” and would therefore be unacceptable to Russia.
China’s foreign ministry said it was studying the report and reiterated a call to resolve the row through talks. A commentary published by China’s official Xinhua news agency said the IAEA still “lacks a smoking gun”.
Russia and China have signed up to limited UN sanctions but have rebuffed western proposals for measures that could seriously curtail energy and trade ties with Iran.