U.S. Accepts Draft on Iran That Omits Use of Force

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May 31, 2006
U.S. Accepts Draft on Iran That Omits Use of Force
By STEVEN R. WEISMAN

WASHINGTON, May 30 — The Bush administration, seeking to enlist Russian support for a United Nations Security Council resolution on Iran, has agreed to language ruling out the immediate threat of military force, American and European officials said Tuesday.

The American agreement has improved the chances that the Russians will go along with the resolution, European diplomats said.

The resolution is to call on Iran to suspend various nuclear activities that are viewed in the West as part of a clandestine weapons program, but that Iran maintains are peaceful in nature.

President Bush called President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, President Jacques Chirac of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany to press for agreement on a Security Council resolution demanding that Iran stop enriching uranium or face possible punitive action.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's office announced that Ms. Rice would fly to Vienna on Wednesday for more talks on Iran with top Russian, Chinese and European envoys. The American goal is to get an agreement on a Security Council resolution this week, for possible approval in June.

Also being negotiated are a package of benefits in nuclear energy, economic activities and security to be offered Iran if it cooperates in ending its nuclear activities. The Europeans are to offer this package with American support, but the Bush administration has quietly expressed misgivings about some of its possible elements.

"I think that we could safely say at this point that we feel like we're in good shape heading into Vienna," Sean McCormack, the State Department spokesman, said at a department briefing.

He added that Ms. Rice's top aide on the issue, R. Nicholas Burns, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, had worked with his counterparts over the weekend on various disagreements. "That list of open issues is being whittled down, being narrowed," Mr. McCormack said.

For months the United States has demanded that pressure on Iran must increase through passage of a Security Council resolution under Chapter VII of the United Nations charter. This chapter invokes the Council's power to demand compliance of member countries on certain matters and threaten punishment if they refuse.

Russia, fearing a replay of the run-up to the Iraq war in 2002 and 2003, has opposed any invocation of Chapter VII, on the ground that the United States might seize upon its approval as a justification for acting unilaterally to impose economic penalties or use military force against Iran.

To placate the Russians, the United States has agreed to invoke only Article 41 of Chapter VII, and not the whole chapter. Article 41 makes no reference to the possible use of force, and therefore offers the Russians a means to support it.

"We're splitting hairs, but it keeps the process going," said a United Nations diplomat familiar with the negotiations, speaking anonymously because he was not authorized to discuss the talks.

European diplomats said they were not sure whether Russia would show up in Vienna with a commitment to vote yes or to abstain from voting on the Security Council resolution. But two diplomats said it appeared that Russia did not like being seen as isolated by the United States and Europe on the matter.

In addition, they said, Mr. Putin hopes to get the issue of a Security Council resolution resolved soon so that it does not spill into the meetings of the Group of 8 nations in Moscow in June and in St. Petersburg in July.

Russia is the current president of the Group of 8, a rotating position, and is hoping for successful summit talks in St. Petersburg with President Bush and other top world leaders.