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NEWS STORY
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UN Imposes New
Sanctions on Iran
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The Washington
Post
March 4, 2008
By Robin Wright and Colin Lynch
The United Nations imposed new
sanctions on
Iran yesterday, capping a year of difficult diplomacy that may
represent the Bush administration's final bid to mobilize
international action against Tehran over its controversial nuclear
program.
Just five months after President Bush warned that Iran's alleged pursuit of
nuclear weapons could lead to "World War III," the White House had to settle for
a watered-down U.N. resolution that makes most trade and financial sanctions
voluntary. The Security Council voted 14 to 0 to sanction Iran for refusing to
stop its uranium-enrichment program, falling one short of the unanimous vote the
White House sought to signal the international community's resolve.
U.S. diplomacy was undercut by China's growing oil trade with Iran, Russia's ties to Tehran's nuclear energy program and skepticism
among four developing countries on the council about the need for yet another
U.N. resolution. But Washington's own National Intelligence Estimate in December
-- which concluded with "high confidence" that Iran had shelved its nuclear
weapons program in 2003 -- did more than anything else to undermine the
prospects for a hard-hitting resolution, according to current and former U.S.
officials.
In early December, the administration worried that its diplomatic initiative
on Iran might die completely.
Although he had been briefed on the NIE's
conclusions, Undersecretary of State R. Nicholas Burns was sworn to secrecy
before meeting his counterparts from Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany in Paris on Dec. 1 to discuss strategy on Iran, U.S.
officials said. Ending months of debate, the world's six major powers agreed on
the outline of a resolution, though differences remained on specifics.
Then on Dec. 3, the U.S. intelligence community released the NIE, undermining
Washington's long-standing claim that Tehran was pursuing a nuclear weapons
program.
"The NIE put a stake through the heart of diplomacy on Iran," said Bruce
Riedel, a former senior CIA and national security official now at the Brookings
Institution's Saban Center. "It pulled the rug out from under them in every way.
The administration now can't go to war and can't even apply much pressure."
In a scramble to keep allies on board, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
and national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley called their counterparts in
Moscow, Beijing, Paris, London and Berlin to explain why they should not abandon
a new resolution, U.S. officials said. The NIE, they argued, was about Iran's
past efforts to develop a nuclear weapon, whereas the new resolution would focus
on uranium enrichment, a separate and ongoing process that can be used for
peaceful energy and to develop a weapon, and an effort Tehran acknowledged
hiding for 18 years.
"There was a real concern at the beginning about whether we'd lose the
consensus for a sanctions resolution and whether we would be able to hold the
coalition together," acknowledged a senior administration official familiar with
the diplomacy. "We didn't get into substance. We just wanted to find out: Will
they stay with us or not?"
Burns, who had flown from Paris to Australia, was left to get the answers
from allies. From Canberra, he got through quickly to the Europeans. "They were
all surprised by the NIE," said the official, although in the end they agreed to
pursue the U.N. route.
But it took two days for the Russians and Chinese to return Burns's calls. He
was about to leave Australia when the Russians called to say they were willing
to continue discussions. Just minutes before boarding a plane for the 18-hour
flight home, Burns received a call from Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister He
Yafei, who said his country would not abandon the effort.
Then came the hard part of nailing down the details. Iran had already refused
to cooperate with resolutions passed in December 2006 and March 2007, and the
administration had hoped that the long-sought third resolution would be so tough
that it would finally persuade Tehran to give up enrichment and negotiate with
the United States and Europeans on Iranian concerns.
But when the six major powers met again in Berlin on Jan. 22, Washington had
to back down further to win consensus. Gone were measures against Iran's
Revolutionary Guard Corps and its elite Quds Force. So were provisions
sanctioning two of the nation's biggest banks.
Washington had salvaged the diplomatic initiative, though at a cost. The
toughest measures in yesterday's resolution include a travel ban on five
officials linked to nuclear proliferation and a mandate on countries to
"exercise vigilance" about new export credits and transactions with Bank Melli
and Bank Saderat.
The new resolution expanded the list of banned dual-use items that can be
subverted for weapons development. It also urged countries to inspect cargo on
aircraft and ships traveling to and from Iran if they are suspected of
transporting goods prohibited by the United Nations. But it offers no
enforcement mechanisms for any of the measures.
The Bush administration heralded the 14 to 0 vote,
with only Indonesia abstaining, after French President Nicolas Sarkozy won
support from South Africa and Libya.
"The international community has spoken with one voice again today. Iran has
a choice to make: It can reap the benefits of cooperation with the rest of the
world or it can continue to isolate itself and suffer the consequences of the
additional sanctions imposed by the United Nations," said Gordon Johndroe,
National Security Council spokesman.
Iran responded defiantly, with U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee charging that
the Security Council has become "a mere tool of the national foreign policy of
just a few countries."
"Iran cannot and will not accept a requirement which is legally defective and
politically coercive," he said. "History tells us that no amount of pressure,
intimidation and threat will be able to coerce our nation to give up its basic
and legal rights." The council's action violated Iran's legal right, enshrined
in the 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty, to produce nuclear fuel for peaceful
purposes, Khazaee said.
Iran now has 90 days to suspend enrichment, 30 days longer than in the
previous resolutions. But former officials involved in Iran diplomacy said that
Resolution 1803 is probably the last one the Bush administration will be able to
orchestrate.
"We've come to the end of the line on new initiatives that will move the
Iranians significantly," said Suzanne Maloney, a former State Department expert
on Iran. The Bush administration has "run out of time."
The administration is counting on the European Union to impose its own
sanctions on Iran, U.S. officials said. But European officials counter that the
weakening of the U.N. resolution will affect the scope of their actions, because
many European countries do business with Iran.
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