Iran's UN envoy Wednesday rejected the idea of a concurrent suspension of sanctions and Tehran's uranium enrichment as a way to defuse his country's nuclear showdown with the Security Council.
"It is a serious issue, it requires a serious solution, and suspension is not a solution," said Iran's ambassador to the United Nations Javad Zarif, addressing a policy conference on Iran here by video link.
The idea of a 'suspension for suspension' approach has been mooted by some diplomats as a way of keeping the crisis from coming to a head later this week as the Council debates toughening sanctions on Iran.
"Let us assume, assuming the impossible is not impossible, that Iran agrees a suspension for two months, what are the people on the other side going to put on the table at the end of the two months?" Zarif said.
"Suspension, in the best-case scenario is a two month band-aid. What would happen at the end of two months?" the ambassador said, in the unusual link-up with an event in the US capital.
Zarif did not address a more concrete proposal by South Africa, which calls for a 90-day suspension of UN sanctions to allow "space for technical discussions at the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear monitoring agency) and political negotiations (with Tehran) ... to achieve a peaceful and negotiated solution."
The draft UN Security Council resolution bans Iran from exporting arms, calls for voluntary trade sanctions and expands a list of officials and companies targeted for financial and travel restrictions.
The text would give Iran 60 days to comply or face "further appropriate y action, under Article 41 of the UN Charter. But the South African amendments would gut much of the text, by deleting the weapons ban and many financial sanctions, according to Western diplomats.
The United States accuses Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon, a charge denied by Tehran which insists its atomic program is peaceful in nature.
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