UNITED NATIONS — The U.S. and Russia, striking a compromise, led a new U.N. Security Council effort Friday to condemn Iran’s nuclear program that includes no new sanctions.
The brief resolution would reaffirm the three previous resolutions, which imposed progressively tougher sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt its uranium-enrichment program.
It also calls on Tehran “to fully comply, without delay, with its obligations” and meet the requirements of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog agency.
The council met in private consultations Friday afternoon after an earlier closed meeting of foreign ministers with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Pakistan’s president.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the resolution has the agreement of ministers from the six key players in negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program — Russia, the U.S., Britain, France, China and Germany.
The United States, Britain and France have been pressing for a new round of sanctions to step up pressure against Iran for its continuing refusal to suspend uranium enrichment as a prelude to talks on its nuclear program.
But Russia and China objected to new sanctions.
The proposed resolution is a compromise — no new sanctions but a tough statement to Iran that Security Council resolutions are legally binding and must be carried out.
Existing U.N.-backed sanctions against Iran include an embargo on proliferation-sensitive nuclear and ballistic-missile programs, an export ban on arms and related material, and “targeted” sanctions on certain people, banks and other entities through travel bans and asset freezes.
Iran insists its nuclear program is purely peaceful and designed to produce nuclear energy, but the U.S. and Europeans suspect Tehran is pursuing nuclear weapons.
