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France said on Friday it wanted to reach a deal on new sanctions against Iran at the United Nations Security Council but indicated it might also push for separate European Union measures against Tehran. The shift signals France's impatience with Iran, and its desire that the five permanent Security Council members plus Germany agree quickly on a third round of UN sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program. France also struck a more hawkish tone than Germany, which diplomats say believes new sanctions may not be necessary if Iran cooperates with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). "We wish to have new sanctions adopted, as a priority in the UN Security Council," foreign ministry spokesman Frederic Desagneaux told a regular news conference. "But we remind you that there are already measures taken outside that framework, in the framework of the European Union," he added. France has repeatedly called for fresh sanctions against Iran for its failure to suspend uranium enrichment, which can produce fuel for nuclear weapons. Iran denies charges that it wants nuclear bombs, saying it is only interested in generating electricity. The United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany have been ratcheting up pressure on Tehran to halt its program and cooperate more with UN inspectors. But European diplomats have told Reuters Germany wants to delay any fresh sanctions to give a chance to an Aug. 21 deal between Iran and the IAEA that is meant to bring transparency to Iran's nuclear program. Desagneaux said the deal between the IAEA and Iran was a step in the right direction but insufficient as it did not address the suspension of Iran's sensitive nuclear work that the Security Council has demanded. Describing the French position, one European diplomat said: "If the (UN) process fails or is not conclusive, we do not exclude taking measures in the European framework."The US, which is pushing for tougher sanctions, plans to hold a meeting on the next steps to take on Sept. 21.Iran says China on side against fresh sanctions
Iran warned on Friday that tightened sanctions over its nuclear activities could undermine its cooperation with the UN atomic watchdog and claimed to have China's support against Washington's calls for added pressure. After talks with senior Chinese diplomats, Iran's Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi said both sides believed sanctions would damage efforts to defuse conflict over his country's nuclear plans."If the Security Council tightens sanctions against Iran, then in the future our cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency will come to a halt," he told reporters. "In our discussions with the Chinese side, we agreed that resolving this issue through the IAEA is more effective," he said, speaking in Farsi translated into Chinese. China is generally reluctant to back UN sanctions. Iran was the country's third largest supplier of crude oil in the year through July, providing over 12 percent of China's imports and behind only Saudi Arabia and Angola. Pourmohammadi was in Beijing as a special envoy for talks about the nuclear dispute, as Washington pushes for tighter sanctions in the wake of a deal between Iran and UN inspectors that some Western nations fear could be a recipe for delay. Iran on Aug. 21 agreed to a "work plan" with the IAEA which commits Tehran to answer longstanding questions about its nuclear activities over a rough timeline of a few months, but leaves untouched the country's expanding uranium enrichment work. Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan, who serves as a senior foreign policy coordinator, said his country wanted to see Iran and the IAEA cooperate, the official Xinhua news agency reported. "We hope that all sides will adopt a pragmatic and flexible attitude," Tang told Pourmohammadi, according to Xinhua. Pourmohammadi said Iran would not bow to pressure. The Iranian official also stressed Tehran's hopes for stronger economic ties with China, including energy deals and infrastructure projects. In the first seven months of this year China's goods exports to Iran leapt by 79 percent compared to the same time last year, reaching e4.1 billion, according to Chinese customs statistics. Iranian exports to China - a lot of it crude oil - grew by 31 percent to 7.4 billion euros.
As in the days of Noah...
