Members of the UN Security Council have voted unanimously to apply new economic sanctions against Iran to punish the country for refusing to halt its enrichment of uranium.
  

Alejandro Daniel Wolff, left, U.S. ambassador to the UN, and China's UN ambassador, Guangya Wang, right, speak to French ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere on Saturday before a Security Council meeting that ended with a unanimous vote to expand sanctions against Iran.
(Mary Altaffer/Associated Press)

The sanctions, slightly tougher than those imposed by the council in December, call for a ban of Iranian arms exports and a freeze on the assets of 28 people and organizations connected to Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

"It's a significant international rebuke to Iran and it's a significant tightening of international pressure on Iran," R. Nicholas Burns, undersecretary for political affairs at the U.S. State Department, said of the sanctions approved Saturday at the UN.

"We do believe it's going to leave Iran even more isolated than it has been."

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told the council that Iran rejects the vote and has no plans to suspend its uranium enrichment program.
  
"The world must know — and it does — that even the harshest political and economic sanctions or other threats are far too weak to coerce the Iranian nation to retreat from their legal and legitimate demands," Mottaki said.

"Suspension is neither an option nor a solution."

President cancelled trip

Mottaki went to the UN to speak on behalf of Iran instead of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who had originally planned to address the council but decided Friday to cancel his trip because he said the U.S. failed to deliver visas to his officials in time.

The U.S. said the visas were ready when needed.

Under the sanctions imposed in December, countries were ordered by the council to stop selling Iran materials and technology that could be used in its nuclear programs. The council also imposed a freeze on assets of 10 major Iranian companies and 12 people with connections to the programs.

The sanctions approved Saturday were considered a compromise between tough measures proposed by the U.S. and some European countries, and softer measures urged by Russia and China.

Emyr Jones Parry, Britain's ambassador to the UN, said the sanctions send a clear message to Iran.

"This resolution sends an unambiguous signal to the government and people of Iran … that the path of nuclear proliferation by Iran is not one that the international community can accept," Parry said.

Program expanded

Iran expanded its uranium enrichment program after the sanctions in December.

The five permanent council members — United States, China, Russia, Britain, France — and Germany drafted the resolution that was voted upon on Saturday.

Representatives from all six countries engaged in discussions on Friday to reach consensus on the wording of the resolution. South Africa, Qatar and Indonesia, current council members, objected to some of the text.

Under the resolution, the International Atomic Energy Agency will be asked to report to the council in 60 days on whether Iran has complied with the council and suspend its nuclear program.

The council said in the resolution that Iran could face stronger sanctions if it continues to ignore demands that it stop.

Uranium enrichment is a process by which a country can produce fuel for nuclear reactors or fissile material for nuclear bombs.

Iran says its uranium enrichment produces fuel for nuclear power plants and is used to generate electricity, but the U.S. and its allies say they fear Iran could be building nuclear weapons.

 

With files from the Associated Press