By Sue Pleming
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Western powers on Monday pushed fornew sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program as Tehranvoiced defiance about any new punitive measures, saying highoil prices would cushion the blow.
Senior diplomats from the five permanent members of theU.N. Security Council -- China, Russia, the United States,France and Britain -- and Germany, met in Washington to discussstrategy over Iran and give momentum to a sanctions resolutionstill being haggled over at the United Nations.
"We continue to expect a vote soon on the draft sanctionsresolution currently being discussed in New York," said StateDepartment spokesman Tom Casey after the meeting.
He provided few details of what was discussed, but Russiaand China were expected to argue for more "carrots" rather than"sticks" to persuade Iran to give up its sensitive nuclearwork.
"They also reaffirmed their commitment to the dual trackapproach for responding to the challenge posed by Iran'snuclear program," added Casey.
The United States, Britain and France are pushing for aU.N. Security Council vote this week because they fear Iranseeks an atomic bomb.
But some nonpermanent Security Council members like Libyaare unlikely to support the move, meaning the United Statesmight not get the unanimous U.N. vote it had hoped for.
"Really we cannot be supportive of further sanctions,"Libya's ambassador to the United Nations, Giadalla Ettalhi,told reporters as he went into a Security Council meeting onunrelated issues in New York.
Asked if Libya would vote "no" if the resolution went to avote unchanged, Ettalhi said, "I think so."
TEHRAN REFUSES TO COMPLY
Iran's U.N. ambassador said his nation would not complywith a new sanctions resolution and considered any demand thatit suspend uranium enrichment illegal.
"It would not be logical to comply with the resolution,"said Iranian ambassador Mohammad Khazaee. "We do not see anyreason to suspend our enrichment (of uranium)," he added.
An Iranian minister was reported as saying the economy ofthe world's fourth-largest oil producer would not be hurt.
"New sanctions will not harm Iran's economy ... High oilprices will help Iran to compensate," Economy and FinanceMinister Davoud Danesh-Jafari was quoted as saying by thestudents' news agency ISNA.
The West believes Iran's nuclear work is aimed at buildingan atomic bomb while Tehran says it is for peaceful powergeneration.
The six major powers agreed in a meeting in Berlin lastmonth to impose a third round of U.N. Security Councilsanctions against Tehran and this meeting was a follow-on fromthose talks.
One U.S. concern is that Russia, which was reluctant fromthe start, will use Libya's opposition to more sanctions as anexcuse to further weaken the U.N resolution, already watereddown to accommodate Beijing and Moscow's objections.
Russia's support might also have been eroded by its angerover the decision by the United States and many European statesto recognize Kosovo, which declared independence from Russianally Serbia just over a week ago.
The new sanctions resolution formally submitted by Franceand Britain calls for measures including asset freezes andmandatory travel bans for specific Iranian officials.
It also expands the list of Iranian officials and companiestargeted by the sanctions. Earlier rounds of sanctions wereimposed in December 2006 and March 2007.
Iran has warned Western powers they would be the ones tosuffer if new sanctions were imposed on Tehran, which hasresisted any OPEC oil output increase to bring down prices fromabove $99 a barrel. Tehran has even supported an output cut.
Mohammad Ali Khatibi, deputy director of internationalaffairs at the National Iranian Oil Company, said he saw noreason for OPEC producing countries to raise output as marketsupplies of crude oil were sufficient.
The Islamic Republic has threatened to review cooperationwith the International Atomic Energy Agency, whose latestreport on Friday confronted Iran for the first time withWestern intelligence reports of work linked to making atomicbombs.
(Additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi in Tehran andPatrick Worsnip and Lou Charbonneau at the United Nations inNew York. Editing by Chris Wilson)
