U.N. Security Council Calls on Iran to Comply on Nuclear Program

By Merle D. Kellerhals Jr.

It is unacceptable for Iran to defy the United Nations over its controversial nuclear weapons development program, says U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad.

Khalilzad said September 27 that a resolution adopted unanimously by the U.N. Security Council calls for Iran to comply with three previous resolutions and cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The brief resolution reaffirmed Security Council resolutions that impose progressively stronger political and economic sanctions on Iran for failing to stop its uranium enrichment program.

The Security Council action followed a September 15 report from the IAEA that said Iran had not suspended uranium enrichment. "The Security Council today called on that country to fully and without delay comply with Council resolutions that demanded an end to that [program] and to meet the requirements of the IAEA Board of Governors," Khalilzad said.

"Unity of purpose on behalf of the council was a very important signal to send out, particularly coming at this time after another IAEA report by the director-general [Mohamed ElBaradei] on noncompliance by Iran," said Ambassador Alejandro Wolff, the U.S. deputy permanent representative to the U.N.

He said the resolution was timely, effective and constructive in showing strong diplomatic resolve over the issue.

"We remain hopeful that Iran will comply; we remain hopeful that Iran will seize on the incentives package that has been offered," Wolff said. "We remain hopeful that Iran will sit down and negotiate as has been offered."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in an interview September 26 that she discussed a resolution with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. They agreed that a simple resolution reaffirming support for the work already done by the Security Council would send the right signal to the Iranian regime.

Rice said the resolution supports an existing two-track diplomatic approach to the problem: incentives to convince Iran to forgo a nuclear weapons program, and sanctions for not complying.

"It sends a very strong message," Rice said.

Previous rounds of U.N. sanctions targeted Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs and froze the foreign assets of individuals and companies associated with them, while the third set of sanctions imposed restrictions on trading with Iran in goods that have civilian and military uses.

"Once a resolution is adopted by the Security Council, it is incumbent upon member states to comply with it," said Indonesia's U.N. ambassador, Marty Natalegawa, according to the Associated Press.

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the new resolution restated the desire by the Security Council to resolve this dispute through diplomacy, which the United States has sought from the outset.

The Iranian government claims its nuclear enrichment activities are designed to develop civil nuclear power. But the regime's continued refusal to allow United Nations nuclear inspectors full access to all facilities leads many, including the United States, to suspect that Tehran secretly is seeking nuclear weapons development.

Source: U.S. Department of State

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