U.N. council approves new sanctions on Iran

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Councilimposed a third round of sanctions on Iran on Monday forrefusing to suspend sensitive nuclear activities.

There were 14 votes in favour, no votes against and onecountry, Indonesia, abstained.

Tehran denies Western charges it seeks nuclear weapons andhas ignored three previous Security Council resolutionsdemanding it freeze its uranium enrichment program, which canproduce fuel for nuclear power plants or atomic weapons.

The five permanent council members -- the United States,Britain, France, China and Russia -- and Germany, which is noton the council, agreed in Berlin on January 22 on a draft textoutlining a third round of sanctions against Tehran.

Washington had hoped for a swift vote on the sanctions textbut negotiations dragged on for a month and a half untilMonday's meeting of the 15-nation council, which adopted theresolution.

Libya, Vietnam and South Africa, as well as Indonesia, hadexpressed reservations about the resolution, but vigorousWestern lobbying managed to persuade all except Jakarta.

Iran dismissed the resolution as a violation ofinternational law and said it only harmed the SecurityCouncil's credibility.

"The credibility of the Security Council ... is readilydowngraded to a mere tool of the national foreign policy ofjust a few countries," Iran's U.N. ambassador, MohammadKhazaee, told the council.

He reiterated Tehran's position that its nuclear programhas always been peaceful and that the current and past U.N.sanctions resolutions against Iran lack any legal basis.

In a statement on behalf of the five permanent members andGermany, British Ambassador John Sawers told the council thegroup wanted EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana to meetIran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili to try to resolvethe nuclear impasse.

STRONG MESSAGE

It has been clear since January that the new sanctionswould be approved, since they had the backing of all fivepermanent council members and six non-permanent members.

But the resolution's European co-sponsors -- Britain,France and Germany -- were anxious to send the strongestpossible message to Tehran by getting as close to a unanimous15-0 vote as they could.

South Africa, Libya, Indonesia and Vietnam had allquestioned the wisdom of imposing further sanctions on Iran ata time when the U.N. nuclear watchdog in Vienna says Tehran'scooperation with U.N. inspectors has improved significantly.

The resolution calls for more travel and financialrestrictions on named Iranian individuals and companies andmakes some restrictions mandatory. Two earlier sanctions roundswere approved unanimously in December 2006 and March 2007.

Diplomats describe the third sanctions resolution as amoderate tightening of the screws from the two previous ones.They said this was the most Washington could get after asurprising U.S. intelligence report released in December saidIran had scrapped its atom bomb program in 2003.

But the U.N. nuclear watchdog is taking seriously new U.S.intelligence that Washington shared with it on alleged Iraniannuclear bomb activities, and Western diplomats said that wouldmake it more difficult for states to vote against sanctions.

Khazaee dismissed the U.S. intelligence as "baseless."

(Additional reporting by Patrick Worsnip at the UnitedNations and Parisa Hafezi in Tehran; Editing by PatriciaZengerle)