By NNN-KUNA
United Nations : The vote, originally scheduled in the Security Council for Friday, on a new set of sanctions on Iran over its disputed nuclear programme has been postponed and an amended version will be issued next week in an attempt to secure unanimity of the council, a council diplomat said.
The diplomat told reporters Wednesday that the co-sponsors of the draft resolution — Britain and France — are willing to postpone the vote for a few days and even slightly amend it to alley their concerns in order to secure a unanimous vote.
Libya, Indonesia, South Africa and Vietnam said they were opposed to the new draft text and insisted that it should reflect the “positive” elements in the IAEA report issued last Friday on Iran’s cooperation with the agency.
Talks with the four members are going on both here and in their capitals, he said.
The two previous resolutions imposing limited sanctions on Iran — 1737 and 1747 — were voted unanimously.
The new draft resolution will now be voted on under the Russian presidency of the council in March.
Russian envoy Vitaly Churkin told reporters in Moscow via video link from New York “If Iran in the next few days does not stop the enrichment activities of its heavy water project, then yes, Russia … has taken upon itself certain commitments… to support the resolution that has been drafted in the past month.”
The draft resolution tightens old sanctions on Iran and adds new ones, mainly imposing a total travel ban on Iranian officials engaged in the nuclear programme, and making it mandatory to inspect cargos, by air and sea, entering and leaving Iran.