By Louis Charbonneau
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council willlikely delay a vote on a third round of sanctions against Iranover its nuclear program, as Western countries lobby for a bigvote in favour, diplomats said on Wednesday.
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.
"It looks very likely there will not be a vote on thesanctions until next week," a Western diplomat told Reuters oncondition of anonymity. Other diplomats confirmed this view.
The five permanent council members -- the United States,Britain, France, China and Russia -- and Germany, which is noton the council, agreed on January 22 in Berlin on a draft textoutlining a third round of sanctions against Tehran.
Washington had hoped for a swift vote on the sanctions textand U.S. officials said they have not given up hope of a votein the next two days.
"It is our intention to vote on the resolution this week,"said Richard Grenell, spokesman for the U.S. mission to theUnited Nations. U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad has said hewas looking for a vote to take place on Friday.
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.
With the five permanent council members and six othersbacking the resolution it is bound to go through, but Westerncountries want as close to a 15-0 result as possible and areconcerned about South Africa, Indonesia, Vietnam and Libya.
Those four had already insisted on postponing any voteuntil after the U.N. nuclear watchdog issued its latest reporton Iran last Friday, a demand to which the European co-sponsorsof the resolution reluctantly agreed.
RUSSIA URGES IRAN TO SUSPEND
The report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)was mixed, saying Iran had not responded adequately to Westernintelligence allegations of work linked to making atomic bombsbut had clarified issues related to other past nuclear work.
Tehran said the report had vindicated it but Westerncountries said the opposite.
Now that the IAEA report is out, South Africa and the othersceptics want more changes to be made to the text and severaldiplomats said it was worth waiting if it meant increasing thenumber of "yes" votes, diplomats said.
However, any changes to the draft resolution would have tobe minor and could not water down the actual sanctions, thediplomats said. They added there was little hope of securingLibya's vote.
Russia's U.N. envoy, Vitaly Churkin, made clear Moscowremained committed to supporting the resolution unless Iransuspended its enrichment program over the next few days --highly unlikely as Tehran says enrichment is its right.
"If Iran in the next few days does not stop the enrichmentactivities ... Russia ... (will) support the resolution thathas been drafted in the past month," Churkin told reporters inMoscow via a video link from New York.
Russia and China, which have strong ties to Iran's energyindustry, have previously been reluctant to sanction Iran.
They have been more supportive of the new sanctions drive,partly because the third round of penalties are only a moderatetightening of the screws from previous resolutions and becauseTehran has continued enriching, diplomats say.
INCENTIVES?
The five permanent council members and Germany areconsidering possible new moves to draw Iran into negotiationsover its nuclear program, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solanatold Reuters on Wednesday.
However, a diplomat from one of the six powers said thiswould not have any impact on the present sanctions resolution.He also indicated there was disagreement among the six aboutwhether adding incentives was a good idea.
U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said thepolitical directors from the six powers, who met in Washingtonon Tuesday, were examining how a 2006 incentives offer toTehran could be presented in a way to make it more attractive.
That offer included talks with the United States on anysubject if Tehran suspended uranium enrichment; airline partsfor civilian planes and smoothing the way for Iran's entry tothe World Trade Organization.
(Additional reporting by Mark John in Brussels, Tova Cohenin Tokyo, Mark Heinrich in Vienna, Sue Pleming in Washingtonand James Kilner in Moscow; editing by Todd Eastham)
