In this respect, they have made use of the UN Security Council to adopt and implement those sanctions so that international legitimacy is on their side. So far the Security Council has adopted three sanctions resolutions against Iran: No: 1737 on Dec. 23, 2006; No: 1747 on March 24, 2007; and No: 1802 on March 28, 2008.The first two of these resolutions target Iran's various nuclear bodies, their officials' financial institutions and others. The third resolution only confirms the first two and tries to consolidate them.
However, despite these resolutions, Iran has been standing firm and continues to develop its nuclear program. In other words, Iran conveys the message that sanctions will not be able to influence its decisions with regards to its nuclear program.
The international community, on the other hand, has no credible tool or means to influence Iran's nuclear behavior other than UN Security Council sanctions resolutions. So it has to continue along this path as it is the only legal means left to it, a fact it took up in a meeting this week.
The meeting, held in Frankfurt last Wednesday behind closed doors and attended by senior diplomats from the US, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany, discussed what course of action to take with regards to a new sanctions resolution along the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting later this month. In a statement issued after the meeting, the six powers called on Iran to spell out its response to the offer that they had made last April before their respective foreign ministers convened in New York during the UN General Assembly session.
“If we fail to meet with the Iranians in the next two weeks, then New York will be the moment when the international community formally begins to negotiate a new round of sanctions,” said one senior diplomat after the meeting, confirming that a new round is on the table.
However, the same diplomat made also clear that the New York meeting would not be the moment when sanctions were agreed upon. He said negations over a sanctions package would last several months. “But if the Iranians do not respond positively, then the end of the year will be the moment when we pull the trigger on a new sanctions package.”
From this statement, it is obvious that there is some sort of agreement between the six powers on new sanctions. In this regard, it is well known that France and Britain have been talking of the need for stronger sanctions for some time. So has Germany. The US, of course, is the most ardent supporter in this respect. The Israelis, on the sidelines but behind the scenes, have been lobbying these powers incessantly to adopt stronger sanctions. They say they have assurances from the US that strong sanctions will be imposed against Iran if it does not come to the table with a positive commitment to stop its nuclear program. The US has not denied this Israeli line so far. In regards to Russia and China, presently, they seem to go along with the need for new sanctions, but how far, to what extent and how strong, nobody can say for sure. Keeping in mind that that the three existing sanctions resolutions have the signature of both Russia and China could suggest that they are on board for now, albeit maybe reluctantly.
So, as progress toward the fourth sanctions resolution is made, Iran once again finds itself responding to this. In fact, it responded to these developments in a statement made by its chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, this week. He was quoted by Iranian state television last Tuesday as saying Tehran that was ready to negotiate with the six powers. However, what Jalili had in mind in regards to new negations is not yet clear. For this reason, the six powers have asked for an official reply from Iran. When and how this will come out is hard to say, but one thing is clear: If Iran's response does not satisfy the six powers, a fourth sanctions resolution is a real possibility looming on the horizon, which Iran should take into account.
