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U.S., Britain, France urge targeted sanctions for Iran

Iranian technicians explain equipment during an exhibition of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization at the Qom University in the city of Qom on Tuesday. Iran has discovered new deposits of uranium and is continuing its nuclear enrichment program, a top nuclear official said Tuesday. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Edith M. Lederer Associated Press
Iranian technicians explain equipment during an exhibition of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization at the Qom University in the city of Qom on Tuesday. Iran has discovered new deposits of uranium and is continuing its nuclear enrichment program, a top nuclear official said Tuesday. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

UNITED NATIONS – The United States, Britain and France are pushing for sanctions if Iran continues to defy demands that it halt uranium enrichment – but not the sweeping economic and military embargoes imposed on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

What the U.N. Security Council’s three veto-wielding Western members aim for are targeted sanctions, such as restricting trade in equipment with both civilian and military uses and banning travel and freezing the assets of Iranians who oversee the country’s nuclear program.

U.N. sanctions imposed on Saddam Hussein’s regime banned all Iraqi imports and exports, except food and medicine, and authorized inspections of shipments in and out of Iraq to verify their cargo. The sanctions halted legal oil exports from Iraq, a major producer with the world’s second-largest reserves.

“The general idea we have on Iran is more targeted sanctions aimed at specific individuals responsible for the nuclear program, and the country’s direction of the nuclear program,” U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said.

Bolton said targeted sanctions would also likely include “restricting trade in dual use and other sensitive items.”

He didn’t rule out tougher sanctions in the future.

In Paris, U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns predicted Tuesday that Europe would agree to support a Security Council resolution that would carry the unstated threat of sanctions.

But Washington and its allies face an uphill struggle in winning backing from Russia and China, the council’s other veto-wielding permanent members. Those nations, which have strong ties to Iran, are leery of the resolution even though it doesn’t specifically mention sanctions.

The resolution would make the council’s previous demand for Iran to stop uranium enrichment mandatory.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been defiant toward the Security Council’s demands, and he has sparked international criticism by saying Israel should be wiped “off the map” and for questioning whether the Holocaust happened.

A top Revolutionary Guards commander, Gen. Mohammad Ebrahim, was quoted Tuesday by the Iranian Student News Agency as saying Israel would be Iran’s first retaliatory target in response to any U.S. attack.