Luxembourg – The European Union said Tuesday that its diplomacy is failing to curb Iran’s nuclear program and that the United Nations should act on U.S.-led demands for sanctions against Tehran.
EU foreign ministers said the door is open for the U.N. Security Council to discuss sanctions for Iran’s refusal to stop uranium enrichment, a process that can be used for nuclear power or bombs. Europe is offering Iran trade benefits in return for halting the nuclear activity.
“It’s unavoidable that the Security Council will now take up deliberations with the goal of a resolution and the first step on sanctions,” German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said at a meeting with his EU counterparts in Luxembourg.
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said: “The Iranians have refused everything. We have only one solution: to return to the U.N. Security Council.”
Europe is hardening its stance after Iran ignored an Aug. 31 U.N. deadline for halting uranium enrichment and rebuffed subsequent EU demands to make the concession to address suspicions that the nuclear program is disguising weapons development. Iran, which holds the world’s second-largest oil and natural-gas reserves, says it needs enriched uranium to fuel power stations.
