Security Council accord about Iran nuclear crisis in the making

Great Britain and France have amended their proposal to gain the consensus of Russia and China. The IAEA should be the one to lead negotiations. And Ahmadinejad swears Iran will press ahead.

New York (AsiaNews/Agencies) – An agreement is being drawn up at the United Nations, between the five permanent members of the Security Council, for a motion about Iran's nuclear ambitions. This would entrust the Agency for Atomic Energy with the task of calling on Tehran to stop its activities, giving the IAEA a timeframe of four to six weeks. The White House, meanwhile, has voiced suspicion that an Iranian request of talks with the USA about Iraq is but a bid to stall for time. Tehran, for its part, sees the long arm of America behind today's attack by a group of Sunni rebels in the south of the country, which claimed more than 20 lives.

At the UN, Great Britain and France submitted an amended proposal, backed by the USA, to the ambassadors of Russia and China, which goes in the direction requested by Moscow and Beijing. What the two countries want is that attempts at diplomatic management of the Iranian crisis be entrusted to the IAEA, with the Security Council in the role of support, for now. The west, especially Washington, was initially in favour of a "strong message" from the Council to Iran. The new resolution plan, according to press speculations, still demands that Iran obeys the IAEA and abandons its nuclear enrichment activities (what the west wants). But it also calls on the general director of the agency, Mohamed el-Baradei, (as Russia and China want) to follow negotiations and to refer them to the Security Council within a few weeks: due according to the plan, four or six according to diplomats of Moscow and Beijing, who have asked for time to consult their governments.

From Sydney, meanwhile, where US Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, is currently on a visit, came a new appeal from Australia, the United States and Japan to Iran to "cooperate fully" with the IAEA.

The Iranian response to all diplomatic activities continues to be, at least externally, inflexible. The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, today swore to resist international pressure against Iran's nuclear programme. During a visit to Gorgan in the north of the country, he said: "The super powers are trying to block the progress of our nation. They must know that no power will stop the Iranian people from persisting in its research on nuclear technology."

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