Paris: The United States and France agreed on Monday to push for sanctions against Iran over its suspect nuclear programme even as Paris admitted that opposition from China could block quick action.
After talks with US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, French Defence Minister Herve Morin said world powers had to move toward sanctions to punish Tehran for refusing to halt nuclear enrichment.
"It will unfortunately be necessary to launch a dialogue with the international community that will lead to new sanctions if Iran does not stop its programmes," said Morin.
Gates, whose aides had earlier said the United States would ask France to submit a sanctions motion at the UN Security Council, said: "We are very much agreed that action by the international community is the next step."
Iran raised the stakes in its standoff with the West over its nuclear programme when it formally notified the UN nuclear watchdog on Monday of its plan to produce higher enriched uranium.
The United States and its allies fear Iran is using an uranium enrichment drive to develop fissile material for nuclear weapons. Iran says it only wants to produce fuel for a peaceful nuclear energy programme.
Gates was to sit down with Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner later Monday before holding talks with President Nicolas Sarkozy over Iran and France's military involvement in Afghanistan.
France this month took the presidency of the UN Security Council, but Kouchner admitted that a sanctions resolution would not be passed soon.
"We haven't yet convinced the Chinese," Kouchner told reporters separately. "Will our Chinese friends put up a major obstacle?
"I'm afraid that there will be a long discussion and that we will not necessarily have the opportunity to put a resolution to a vote during the French presidency of the UN Security Council," he said.
Kouchner said he doubted that support for a new Iran sanctions resolution would garner the nine votes needed in the 15-member Council to be approved.
Work on a draft resolution has begun at UN headquarters in New York, with the Americans and Europeans presenting a list of sanctions that could even target energy products, said Kouchner.
Iran's announcement that it plans to enrich uranium to 20 percent "is really blackmail. One could call it diplomacy, but if that is what is then it is truly negative," said Kouchner.
For his part, Gates argued that sanctions on Iran would apply pressure on the leadership to address international demands that it comes clean on its nuclear programme.
"The point of the pressure is to bring the Iranians back to the negotiating table and to resolve the issue in a way that prevents Iran from getting a nuclear weapon," he said.
The US defence secretary said a nuclear-armed Iran posed a "huge danger" to the region.
"We have to face the reality that if Iran continues and develops nuclear weapons, it almost certainly will provoke nuclear proliferation in the Middle East. This is a huge danger," he said.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, February 08, 2010, 21:55