UN may impose new sanctions on Iran in Feb. 2010
27.12.2009 16:53 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The UN Security Council can impose new sanctions on
Iran by late February unless Tehran accepts the Iran Six’s offer on
its controversial nuclear dossier, Britain’s UN envoy said on December
26.

Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States have
been trying to persuade Iran to halt uranium enrichment it says it
needs for electricity generation for economic and diplomatic
incentives. Iran-Six envoys last met in Geneva on October 1.

"There will be some discussion among the Six first, before we table
something in New York. But I think probably by the end of February,
certainly I expect there to be sanctions," British Ambassador Mark
Lyall Grant told RIA Novosti.

Iran, which is already under three sets of United Nations sanctions
for refusing to halt uranium enrichment, recently announced plans to
build 10 new uranium enrichment facilities. Western powers suspect it
of pursuing an atomic weapons program.

"We shall be discussing among the six of us over the next few weeks on
what elements might be included in a new sanctions resolution against
Iran. But at the same time we will always leave the door open to
further dialogue," the British diplomat said.

Lyall Grant said it is not too late for Iran to start cooperating with
the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA), and the international community to avoid sanctions.

Britain, the United States and France warned Tehran they were likely
to push for new sanctions early next year if it refused to halt its
nuclear program during a UN Security Council meeting on December 10.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said earlier
Moscow prefers "political and diplomatic methods," and that any
further sanctions against the Islamic republic are so far unnecessary,
finchannel.com reported.