It's all about timing

UN Security Council is preparing a resolution on Iran

This week the UN Security Council will take up a draft resolution on Iran proposed by Britain, Germany and France. The project threatens Tehran with sanctions if the Iranians do not suspend all work on uranium enrichment and processing, as well as on the construction of a heavy water nuclear reactor. As noted in the draft, the UN Security Council will be forced to take measures in accordance with Article 41 of Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which provides for economic and diplomatic, but not military sanctions.

After the draft was sent to all members of the UN Security Council, it became known that two of its permanent members - Russia and China - wanted to supplement the document. And the United States declared the need for “consultations.” According to Vremya Novostei, the disagreement arose over the time frame given to Iran to comply with the demands. The draft states that by the beginning of August Iran must agree to the proposals presented to it on July 12 by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany. But Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, proposed setting this deadline at August 31. Tehran, represented by its lead negotiator, Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani, had previously stated that Iran reserves the right to respond “until August 22.” The West offers Iran to stop all work on uranium enrichment and instead purchase light water reactors from Europe.

In Germany, the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper recalled yesterday that Iran has so far “with imperturbable persistence” avoided any positive responses to the Europeans’ compromise proposals, and “something needs to be done about this.” But in the dispute over the time frame within which Iran must meet for its response, European diplomacy finds itself between a rock and a hard place. The United States is demanding greater firmness from Europeans in its dispute with Iran. But Russia and China are in no hurry to give clear consent to the introduction of sanctions against Iran.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, however, is interested in completely different problems. At the end of last week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel received his 2010-page message, the contents of which have not yet been widely announced, but the ideological orientation leaves no doubt. German government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said the letter “contains many statements that are unacceptable to us, relating, for example, to Israel’s right to exist and the Holocaust.”

Yuri Shpakov, Berlin