UN votes for new sanctions on Iran

The Security Council has adopted a fourth round of sanctions against Iran's nuclear programme.

Members of the Security Council in discussions before the vote was taken.

NEW YORK // The United Nations Security Council adopted a fourth round of sanctions against Iran yesterday, aimed at banks and companies suspected of involvement in the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme. Barack Obama, the US president, said the "toughest sanctions ever faced by the Iranian government ? send an unmistakable message" to Tehran. His Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, dismissed a resolution that should be "thrown in the dustbin".

Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the UN, said tough new trade curbs against Tehran would force its hardline leaders to "choose a wiser course" and abandon its nuclear programme. Of the Security Council's 15 members, 12 voted for the new sanctions, including all the permanent members - the US, Russia, China, France and Britain. Turkey and Brazil, the two temporary members who brokered a uranium-swap deal with Iran last month, voted against sanctions, saying they are likely to push Tehran further from the negotiating table. Lebanon, where Iranian-backed Hizbollah carries significant political influence, abstained.

The resolution calls for measures against new Iranian banks abroad if a connection to the nuclear or missile programmes is suspected, as well as vigilance over transactions with any Iranian bank, including the central bank. A supplementary document lists 40 companies whose assets around the world will be frozen if they are suspected of assisting Iran's nuclear or missile programmes. It also expands a UN arms embargo against Tehran and blacklists three entities controlled by Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines and 15 belonging to the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

It also sets up a cargo inspection regime similar to one in place for North Korea and a panel of experts to monitor the implementation of sanctions. "These sanctions are as tough as they are smart and precise," Ms Rice told the Security Council. "This resolution prohibits Iran from investing in sensitive nuclear activities abroad. It imposes binding new restrictions on Iran's import of conventional arms.

"It bans all Iranian activities related to ballistic missiles that could deliver a nuclear weapon. It imposes a comprehensive framework of cargo inspections to detect and stop Iran's smuggling and acquisition of illicit materials or nuclear items." Turkey and Brazil, who last month revived a UN plan for Iran to swap 1,200kg of low-enriched uranium in return for fuel rods to power a medical research reactor, said their exchange deal removed the need for sanctions. Brazil's UN ambassador, Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, warned that: "Past experiences in the UN, notably the case of Iraq, show that the spiral of sanctions, threats and isolation can result in tragic consequences."

In a 20-minute rebuttal railing against the "hegemony of the most powerful nations" and a history of western intervention in Iran, the Islamic Republic's UN ambassador, Mohammad Khazaee, said Tehran would continue its drive towards atomic energy for peaceful purposes. "No amount of pressure and mischief will be able to break our nation's determination to pursue and defend its legal and inalienable rights," he said. "Iran ? has never bowed and will never bow to the hostile actions and pressures by these few powers and will continue to defend its rights."

Three rounds of punitive measures aimed at Iran's nuclear and missile industries have hit its economy hard but failed to persuade its leaders to halt its nuclear programme or come to the negotiating table. Instead, Iran continues to enrich uranium at increasingly higher levels, despite veiled threats of possible military action against its nuclear sites by Israel and Washington. Analysts were mixed over whether the sanctions, diluted over months of talks with veto-wielding sceptics Russia and China, are stringent enough to curb Iran's nuclear drive or will serve to pave the way for further conflict in the Middle East.

Dave Hartwell, an analyst for Jane's Country Risk, said the sanctions are the toughest that could be achieved while gaining approval from the permanent council members, but fall short of the crippling oil embargo originally advanced by Israel and Washington. "They are probably not going to bring Iran to the negotiating table and, within the next year, the Security Council is going to have to grapple again with Iran's nuclear programme - and that inevitably raises the question of military action," he said.

Meir Javedanfar, director of the Middle East Economic and Political Analysis Company, described "intelligent sanctions" that will undermine Iran's ability to advance its nuclear programme and force it to halt uranium enrichment and rejoin talks. "We will be back where we started: Iran continuing to enrich uranium for its power programme and Israel nervous that this portends an eventual nuclear weapon," added Henry Precht, a former US state department official and Iran expert.

Muhammad Sahimi, a nuclear weapons expert from the University of Southern California, warned that sanctions "kill prospects for any negotiations in the near future" and will empower Iran's hard-line leaders ahead of the anniversary on Saturday of last year's disputed presidential election. "The only effect that they will have will be making life more miserable for ordinary Iranians, and give the hardliners the perfect excuse - the threat to national security and economy - to tighten their grip," he said.