[NYTr] Things Have Changed On Iran

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Al Jazeera English - Dec 5, 2007
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/5D5000F6-1DB8-40BB-894F-32B8F2691106.htm

China: Things have changed on Iran

US efforts to push for a third round of UN sanctions against Iran are
likely to meet with more resistance after the release of a US
intelligence report saying Tehran halted nuclear work in 2003.

China's UN ambassador suggested on Tuesday an agreement by six world
powers to seek new sanctions had been called into question by the
report.

"I think we all start from the presumption that now things have
changed," Wang Guangya said when asked whether the assessment might
make new sanctions against Iran less likely in the near term.

"I think council members will have to consider that," he said.

"Certainly I think we will study the contents and also think about the
implications for the [UN Security] Council's action here."

Representatives of the US, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany
met in Paris on Saturday to decide what the next steps would be in
their efforts to make Iran comply with a UN-ordered halt to its uranium
enrichment programme.

The six powers said after the meeting they had agreed to start work on
a UN Security Council resolution calling for new sanctions against
Tehran.

Support for US   On Tuesday, France and Britain joined the US in saying
international pressure must be maintained on Iran and they were willing
to push ahead with the sanctions plan.

Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, said she would continue to
push for a third UN sanctions resolution against Iran for defying UN
Security Council demands that it stops enriching uranium.

Britain, whose position on Iran is closely aligned with Washington's,
said on Tuesday that it would also continue to push for increased
international pressure.

"We think the report's conclusions justify the actions already taken by
the international community," a spokesman for Gordon Brown, the British
prime minister, said.

"It confirms we were right to be worried about Iran seeking to develop
nuclear weapons [and] shows that the sanctions programme and
international pressure were having an effect in that they seem to have
abandoned the weaponisation element."   France took a similar stand,
saying that the elements of the report appeared to show that Iran was
not respecting its international obligations.

"We must keep up the pressure on Iran ... we will continue to work on
the introduction of restrictive measures in the framework of the United
Nations," a French foreign ministry spokeswoman said.

Israel questions report   Israel, the only country in the Middle East
believed to have a nuclear arsenal, questioned the findings of the US
National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), saying that efforts to curb
Iran's nuclear programme should continue regardless.

Ehud Barak, Israel's defence minister, told Army Radio that, as far as
Israel knew, Iran had probably renewed its weapons programme since 2003.

Ehud Olmert, Israeli prime minister, said that he would continue to
push the US and other allies move to halt Tehran's nuclear programme.

"It is vital to pursue efforts to prevent Iran from developing a
capability like this and we will continue doing so along with our
friends the United States," he said.

Source: Agencies