<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a4oxSFUCbQMc&refer=home> Iran, Sudan Should Escape More Sanctions for Now, UN Envoys Say
By Bill Varner
June 26 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. will have to hold off pursuit of tougher United Nations sanctions on Iran and Sudan for several months, according to envoys who said promising diplomatic initiatives must be given time to resolve disputes with both nations.
The U.S. and its European allies in the Security Council have been in talks on draft resolutions that would tighten sanctions aimed at blocking Iran's nuclear ambitions and ending the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan.
The Security Council shouldn't consider further sanctions on Iran while the UN nuclear watchdog agency is in talks aimed at determining the extent and possible weapons aims of the country's nuclear program, Chinese and Russian diplomats said. The agency said yesterday that inspectors are preparing to go to Iran for negotiations that would take at least two months.
``We should give them time to tackle the issue,'' Russian Deputy Ambassador Igor Shcherbak said.
Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya said the Security Council shouldn't do anything to ``undermine'' the International Atomic Energy Agency. Wang said China has argued throughout the debates on UN sanctions that the IAEA rather than the Security Council should deal with the question of Iran's nuclear program.
China and Russia, which could veto any draft resolution, have reluctantly supported sanctions adopted by the Security Council in December and March.
Inspectors, Iran
Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo of South Africa, a Security Council member, said action at the UN was unlikely because IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei and Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, wouldn't have agreed on the talks unless the Europeans put off consideration of sanctions.
Larijani invited the IAEA inspectors to Iran after meeting with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana in Lisbon on June 23. Iran, the Middle East's second-largest oil producer, had previously insisted it wouldn't cooperate with the IAEA as long as the Security Council was dealing with the issue.
The U.S., while saying that a bid to tighten sanctions on oil-producing Sudan has been put on hold by the Khartoum government's agreement to a joint UN and African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur, won't go as far on the question of Iran.
State Department spokesman Tom Casey told reporters yesterday that ``consultations'' on a draft resolution continue with Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia, though not at the UN. Still, Casey said the U.S. wasn't close to having a resolution to present in the Security Council.
Sudan Deployment
Asked about sanctions on Sudan, Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said the U.S. priority was a resolution to authorize deployment of as many as 23,000 UN and AU soldiers and civilian police to Darfur. He said that text would be circulated within a week.
``We will keep the option of additional sanctions available,'' Khalilzad said.
Belgian Ambassador Johan Verbeke said sanctions on Sudan are ``off the table'' as long as progress toward the peacekeeping mission continues to be made.
President George W. Bush added pressure on Sudan last month by blocking two Sudanese government officials from the U.S. financial system and freezing the assets of 30 companies -- including some in the petrochemical industry -- owned or controlled by the Sudanese government.
The Security Council in March 2005 voted to freeze the assets and bar the travel outside Sudan of anyone committing crimes against humanity in Darfur.
The council has banned Iran's acquisition of materials and technology that might be used to build an atomic bomb and frozen the assets of individuals and groups involved in its nuclear program. UN member nations have been asked to ``exercise vigilance and restraint'' in selling arms to the government in Tehran, and lenders such as the World Bank have been told to stop giving loans or other financial aid to Iran.
To contact the reporter on this story: Bill Varner in United Nations at wvarner at bloomberg.net Last Updated: June 26, 2007 14:53 EDT
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/26/AR2007062600710.html> Iran oil exports at risk in UK ship sanctions plan
By Stefano Ambrogi Reuters Tuesday, June 26, 2007; 11:02 AM
LONDON (Reuters) - A British proposal to target Iran's national shipping lines under a draft U.N. sanctions resolution could temporarily curb Tehran's ability to export oil to world markets, maritime sources said on Tuesday.
The confidential draft, obtained by Reuters on Friday, suggests denying rights of passage to Iranian merchant ships in foreign waters. The withdrawal of landing rights for Iranian aircraft is also suggested.
The British proposal would have countries "deny permission to take off from, land in or overfly their territories, or berth in or secure passage through their territorial waters, of all aircraft and vessels owned or controlled by Iranian airlines or shipping companies."
Under the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention ships of all nations have the right of innocent passage through a country's territorial seas. U.N. member nations are bound to enforce Security Council resolutions once adopted.
Oil shipping sources said on Tuesday that, if adopted, the proposal could have a short-term effect on Iran's ability to supply oil to world markets, even though U.S. and European officials insist it is not meant to target Iran's oil.
"It's a question of logistics," said James Davis of Lloyd's Marine Intelligence Unit (LMIU) in London, a consultancy that tracks global oil tanker flows.
SHORT-TERM IMPACT
He said Iran could revert to the commercial shipping market to move its oil, thereby side-stepping the United Nations.
"Whether there is enough tanker capacity to cover it is another question, but I think we are looking at a short-term impact," he said.
The draft sanctions proposal is aimed at ratcheting up pressure on Iran for defying U.N. Security Council demands to halt uranium enrichment.
Iran says its goal is peaceful generation of electricity. The West fears the enrichment is aimed at producing a nuclear weapon.
Oil ship industry sources estimate that around 40 percent of Iran's crude oil exports are shipped on National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) vessels. An NITC official contacted by Reuters in Tehran declined to say how much the state-owned fleet carried.
Iran, OPEC's second largest producer, pumps 3.85 million barrels of crude a day and exports 2.4 million barrels of that on tankers by sea, with about 60 percent bound for Asia and the remainder shipped to Europe.
Washington has banned U.S. companies from lifting Iranian oil and investing in Iran since 1995.
"For 2007 we've observed under 40 percent of crude oil exports shipped on NITC vessels, mostly from Kharg Island in the Gulf," LMIU's Davis said.
One of the biggest oil tanker firms operating in the Gulf estimated the figure to be 42 percent of exports.
Davis said the remainder was moved by oil firms aboard their own supertanker fleets or aboard privately chartered vessels.
"The main lifters are Japanese, Indian, Chinese, South Korean. A small amount goes to southern Europe," he said.
A second proposal would target aircraft and vessels -- including those operated by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line and Iran Air Cargo -- that traffic in goods banned under two previous U.N. resolutions. -- Yoshie