The United States has approved a visa for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to address the UN Security Council when it votes on a new sanctions resolution to curb his country's nuclear programme, a senior US official said Monday.
"It's been approved," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said of the visa request submitted by the Iranian leader last week ahead of the Security Council action expected in the coming days. McCormack was unable to say how many visas had also been approved for members of Ahmadinejad's delegation.
Washington and Tehran have not had direct diplomatic ties since the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran. McCormack reiterated US calls for the Iranian president to use his speech to the Security Council to accept UN demands to suspend Iran's uranium enrichment programme and enter into negotiations with the major UN powers.
"It would be an important moment for President Ahmadinejad in his address to the Security Council to take the opportunity to say, 'We are going to negotiate, we do not seek confrontation, we seek dialogue', and to accept the offer of negotiations that has been put forth," McCormack said. "We'll see whether or not he wants to go down the pathway of confrontation or the pathway of dialogue," he said.
But Tehran has given no sign of yielding in its refusal of UN demands that it suspend a uranium reprocessing programme the West fears is aimed at producing nuclear weapons but which Iran insists is for peaceful energy purposes only.
Iran warned on Monday that it would make a "proportionate" response to any new sanctions and that it was ready to pay the price for pursuing its atomic ambitions.
"Iran is completely ready for both paths of cooperation and confrontation and as there is a precedent for paying a price to preserve its independence and rights, it is now ready to pay these prices," said Abbas Araghchi, a deputy foreign minister.
The 15-member Security Council is due to meet Wednesday to review a draft sanctions resolution against Iran agreed last week by the body's five permanent members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - plus Germany.
A vote on the draft, which toughened sanctions already adopted by the council in December, was likely to follow a few days later, diplomats at the world body said.
The new draft would bar Iran from exporting arms and restrict the sale or transfer to Tehran of equipment including battle tanks, combat aircraft, attack helicopters and missiles. It calls for a voluntary travel ban on additional officials involved in Iran's "proliferation-sensitive" nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
It also urges voluntary restrictions on "new commitments for grants, financial assistance and concessional loans to Iran" as well as extending an assets freeze to additional entities and individuals linked to Iran's nuclear and missile programmes.
The text would give Iran 60 days to comply with repeated UN demands or face "further appropriate measures" (economic sanctions but no military action) under Article 41 of the UN Charter. The United States says it wants a diplomatic solution to the nuclear stand-off, but it has never ruled out a military option.
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