LONDON, March 22 (UPI) -- Britain is pressing for a U.N. resolution that would pave the way for sanctions or possible force against Iran should it fail to halt its nuclear program.
In a confidential government letter obtained by the Times of London, a senior Foreign Office official detailed a strategy to persuade Russia and China to back a Chapter VII resolution that would require the United Nations to act should Tehran refuse to comply.
Just three days after Foreign Secretary Jack Straw insisted military action against Iran was "inconceivable" and urged "peaceful diplomatic means" to resolve the dispute, the letter, written by Foreign Office Political Director John Sawyers on March 16, recommended "more serious measures."
"(The Iranians) will need to know that more serious measures are likely," Sawyers wrote to his U.S., German and French counterparts. "This means putting the Iran dossier on to a Chapter VII basis."
He suggested making a suspension of all uranium enrichment by Tehran "a mandatory requirement of the Security Council, in a resolution we would aim to adopt, I say, early May."
Sawyers, who served as Britain's envoy to Iraq following the 2003 invasion, recommended a dual strategy in order to persuade Russia and China -- which have both rejected punitive action -- to sign up to the resolution.
He proposed the international community approach Iran with a "revised offer" of incentives to persuade it to end enrichment activities, which it resumed in February after a two-year suspension.
"We are not going to bring the Russians and Chinese to accept significant sanctions over the coming months, certainly not without further efforts to bring the Iranians around," he wrote.
"In parallel with agreeing a new proposal, we will also want to bind Russia and China into agreeing to further measures that will be taken by the Security Council should the Iranians fail to engage positively."
