Iran to face security council

The five permanent members of the council met in Paris.
PARIS (AP) -- Frustrated world powers agreed Wednesday to send Iran before the U.N. Security Council for possible punishment, saying the Iranians had given no sign they would bargain in earnest over their disputed nuclear program.
The move amounted to calling Iran's bluff. Diplomats said recent meetings with Iran's nuclear negotiator have gone nowhere and it was clear Tehran hoped to play for time or exploit potential divisions among the six powers that have offered new talks.
"The indications are that Iran's response has been disappointing and incomplete," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters aboard her flight to Paris to meet with other foreign ministers.
The United States and other nations wanted Iran to say by Wednesday whether it would meet terms to begin negotiations on economic and energy incentives in exchange for at least a short-term end to Tehran's program to enrich uranium.
Probable actions
At U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said the Security Council's first step will be "to make the requirement that Iran suspend all uranium enrichment activities mandatory." He said he expects the council to give Iran "a limited, fixed period of time to do that."
If Iran fails to comply, Bolton said economic penalties would be the next step. With consultations on a resolution going ahead among council members, "We hope to move as quickly as possible, possibly within the next few days, but realistically early next week," Bolton told reporters.
The council's permanent members said Iranian leaders had had long enough to respond.
"The Iranians have given no indication at all that they are ready to engage seriously on the substance of our proposals," French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said on behalf of the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China, the five permanent Security Council members, plus Germany and the European Union.
Though Russia and China signed on to Wednesday's statement, the two traditional commercial partners of Iran previously have opposed imposition of the toughest of sanctions.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expressed his disappointment with Iran for not responding to the proposals. In a veiled warning that Russia could soften its opposition to sanctions, Lavrov said that if Tehran does not agree to return to negotiations "the Security Council will consider steps appropriate to the situation," the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.
Possible outcomes
If Iran agrees to the group's terms for negotiations, it would mean the first high-level face-to-face talks between the United States and Iran after more than a quarter-century of estrangement.
The group that met in Paris on Wednesday represents the permanent, veto-holding members of the Security Council, plus the European participants in previous failed nuclear talks with Iran. Tehran contends its nuclear program is aimed only at producing electricity, but the West fears it is hiding plans to build a bomb.
Expressing "profound disappointment," foreign ministers said, "we have no choice but to return" to the council.
The group was pushing for an agreement before world leaders meet this weekend in Russia for the Group of Eight summit of leading industrial democracies. President Bush and other leaders are now expected to issue a strongly worded rebuke to Iran during the G-8 meeting.
Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, the Bush administration's chief negotiator on the Iran issue, said the U.S. is pleased by what it called strong action by the Security Council group.
"This is a significant decision that frankly reflects the disappointment and frustration of our countries over the lack of a serious response."
There was no immediate reaction from Tehran, which has repeatedly said it needs more time to consider proposals presented in early June.
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