Security Council agrees to target Iranians involved with nuclear program

The United States and other key powers on the U.N. Security Council reached agreement in principle Friday to impose financial and travel sanctions on about 40 Iranian entities and individuals, including top officials in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps linked to Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

The United States distributed the list to representatives of the council’s fifteen countries. The list is included in a series of annexes that will accompany a U.S.-sponsored resolution sanctioning Iran for defying repeated demands from the U.N. Security Council to halt its enrichment of uranium.

The U.S. on Friday formally tabled that resolution, which would modestly expand and strengthen existing sanctions against Iran’s ruling elite. It will mark the fourth time the U.N. Security Council has imposed measures on Iran to compel it to curtail its nuclear ambitions and to allow greater scrutiny of its nuclear energy program.

Iran claims that its nuclear program is primarily designed to generate electricity, but U.S. and European countries have expressed concerns that it is running a clandestine nuclear weapons program. The International Atomic Energy Agency maintains that Iran has not provided its nuclear inspectors with enough cooperation to certify its intentions are peaceful. The agency concluded recently that Iran has produced enough raw uranium, which if further enriched, to build two nuclear bombs.

In addition to the travel and financial sanctions, the resolution would expand an existing arms embargo against Iran to include large weapons systems, including battle tanks, war ships, combat aircraft and certain missiles. The resolution includes an exemption that will allow Tehran to import Russian S-300 ground-to-air missiles it purchased from Moscow. The U.S. also lifted sanctions on four Russian companies allegedly involved in illicit weapons trade to Iran and Syria since 1999.

The list has not been made public. Security Council diplomats said that the permanent five members of the Security Council  — the United States, Britain, China, France, Russia — plus Germany, are continuing to negotiate the list of Iranian entities and individuals, and that more names may be added before the council votes on the resolution. The United States is hoping to put the resolution to a vote by Wednesday or Thursday.

The United States is confident that it has lined up at least 12 votes in the 15-member Security Council, assuring passage of the resolution. The United States is continuing to press Brazil, Lebanon and Turkey to vote in favor of the resolution, but council diplomats believe that will be a long shot.

Brazil and Turkey have struck a deal with Iran that would allow Tehran to ship low-enriched uranium to Turkey for warehousing, and they believe the council should put off its drive for sanctions until the deal has been tested.

According to the terms of the nuclear pact, the United States, Russia and France, working through the International Atomic Energy Agency, would supply Iran with a more purified form of uranium to be used in Tehran medical research reactor. They are expected to provide their response to the fuel swap deal soon.

The U.S. and other key powers on the council say they welcome the deal, which they described as a confidence building measure, but argue that it is not sufficient to stall the move towards sanctions, saying Iran must first suspend its uranium enrichment program.

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