Big powers say Iran sanctions talks "constructive"

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - Big power envoys said they held constructive talks on Wednesday over new U.N. sanctions to try to halt Iran's nuclear program, but diplomats forecast weeks of haggling over a text the Security Council can pass.

"We got into the substance. We are moving forward and we'll have, of course, other meetings," French Ambassador Gerard Araud told reporters after the three-hour meeting.

"We started to negotiate on the basis of the text. I think the six countries are on board," he added, without elaborating or saying when the next meeting would take place.

Ambassadors from the five permanent Security Council members and Germany met at the U.S. mission to the United Nations for their second meeting in a week since China, which has close economic ties with Iran, agreed to join the talks.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63D3RS20100414

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Translation: "The munchies were good but we couldn't agree on sufficiently ambiguous language yet."

"U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, visiting Peru, hinted Washington might not insist on the toughest possible sanctions, saying the importance of a resolution was "less the specific content than the isolation of Iran by the rest of the world."


I imagine this will be construed as not meeting AIPAC's definition of "crippling sanctions", lol.

The Obama administration signaled Wednesday that the United States would accept weakened United Nations sanctions against Iran as a way to quickly assemble a broad international coalition against Tehran's nuclear program.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said adoption of a new sanctions resolution by the U.N. Security Council is more vital than the actual measures taken.

"What is important about the U.N. resolution is less the specific content of the resolution than the isolation of Iran by the rest of the world," Gates said.

He said a Security Council resolution "provides a new legal platform" for individual nations or groups, such as the European Union, to take more stringent action. In that way, the U.N. resolution acts as a "launching pad" for economic strictures that are much tougher than those adopted by the world organization, he said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-fg-iran-sanctions15-2010apr15,0,6938826.story

witness the U.S. actually exert meaningful pressure on Israel to end the occupation...just makes me wonder, it might be they would go
a lot further.

Iran actually needs nuclear energy for electric power and the world actually needs Iran's oil. If Iran does not have nuclear energy for electric power they have to use their oil. if they are using it they cannot sell it and will be prone to go further into terrorism or be unstable. very tricky situation. the world cannot really deny Iran nuclear power for electricity.