West calls for fourth round of sanctions on Tehran

Western powers on Tuesday called for a fourth round of UN sanctions on Iran, hours after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran would accept a deal on sending low-enriched uranium abroad in exchange for nuclear fuel.

By News Wires (text)

REUTERS - The United States and three European powers hope to blacklist Iran's central bank and firms linked to the Revolutionary Guard Corps in a new round of U.N. sanctions over Tehran's nuclear program, diplomats said.

Western powers have called for a fourth round of U.N. measures against Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment activities as demanded by five Security Council resolutions.

Iran insists it has a sovereign right to produce nuclear fuel for what it says is a peaceful civilian atomic energy program. The West fears the program is for nuclear weapons.

The United States, Britain, France and Germany want to reach an agreement this month with Russia and China -- which have veto power on the Security Council and have opposed tough sanctions in the past -- so that they can begin work on a new U.N. sanctions resolution as soon as possible.

Western diplomats told Reuters that U.S. State Department officials circulated a paper outlining possible new sanctions to foreign ministry officials in London, Paris and Berlin.

Officials from the four Western powers will hold a conference call soon, possibly later this week, on a sanctions proposal to put to Moscow and Beijing, the diplomats said.

A U.S. official said on condition of anonymity that the Russians were also being consulted. "The Russians are deeply engaged on the question of what to do next regarding Iran, the Chinese less so," he said.

At a meeting in New York last month, senior foreign ministry officials, known as political directors, from five of the six powers discussed Iran's nuclear program. Diplomats said China sent a low-level envoy who declared Beijing felt it was not the right time to pursue further sanctions against Tehran.

U.S. plans to sell $6.4 billion in weapons to Taiwan, diplomats noted, could complicate negotiations with China.

A senior U.S. State Department official said that the full six also planned to discuss Iran later this week, though a Western envoy said the Chinese have not confirmed their availability for that conference call. The six tried to arrange a call last week but China was unavailable, diplomats said.

Envoys in New York said the four Western powers wanted to present as ambitious a sanctions package as possible to Russia and China, which have lucrative economic ties to Iran, because it would be watered down in subsequent negotiations.

They said the confidential U.S. proposal, described as a working document that would be revised, covered general areas where new or broader sanctions could be imposed -- including expanding existing travel bans and asset freezes to other Iranian individuals and companies.

Targeting Iran's energy sector?

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appeared to reverse Tehran's previous rejection of a deal under which Iran would send most of its enriched uranium for further purification in Russia and France in exchange for a batch of nuclear fuel.

Iran's initial rejection of that deal had irritated Moscow, Western diplomats said. Reacting to Ahmadinejad's comments, one European envoy said: "It shows the sanctions threat has an impact in Tehran, though I wonder whether he really means it."

It was not clear whether a change of heart by Iran on the nuclear fuel deal would halt the new sanctions drive.

Several diplomats told Reuters the Western powers would like to target Iran's central bank, which they said was a key player in financing Tehran's nuclear and missile industries and in skirting U.N. sanctions.

It was not clear which other banks would be targeted. One diplomat said they were looking at Iran's five biggest banks.

Two previous sanctions resolutions passed in March 2007 and March 2008 blacklisted Iran's Bank Sepah and urged countries to "exercise vigilance" over the activities of all Iranian financial institutions, above all Bank Melli and Bank Saderat.

Iran's energy sector could also be a target, diplomats said, although they doubted Russia and China would support such measures. Diplomats said the French were pushing the hardest for including energy sector sanctions, arguing that oil and gas revenues help fund its nuclear and missile programs.

Diplomats said Britain and the United States do not oppose energy sector sanctions, although they want a quick consensus among the five permanent Security Council members and Germany.

"If they go for the energy sector, Russia and China will oppose it," one diplomat said. "If they want to get a resolution to the Security Council quickly, and to get Russia's and China's support, they can't target the energy sector."

One area where the four Western powers are in total agreement, diplomats said, is the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). "We all favor designating key IRGC members and IRGC-controlled entities," a diplomat said.

Diplomats said the Western powers hope to have an agreement among the six this month so they could turn it into a draft resolution that could be put to a vote in the 15-nation Security Council before the end of March.