UNITED NATIONS, May 3 (UPI) -- Britain and France have introduced a draft resolution in the U.N. Security Council making mandatory Iran's suspension of uranium enrichment.
U.S. Ambassador John Bolton told reporters late Wednesday afternoon before entering closed door council consultations that the draft resolution sponsored by Britain and France was under the U.N. Charter's Chapter VII. That means sanctions or force could be used to enforce the measure, carrying the weight of international law. However, he said it does not call for sanctions.
"We will put down a resolution based on Chapter VII and which will make mandatory, in our view, a requirement that Iran should stop enrichment work and should stop research and development and the prospect of development of heavy water reactors," said British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry. "That's our primary objective."
He added there will be an unspecified period of time for Tehran to report back to the council on its compliance.
"There will be a relatively short period for Iran to come into compliance, X number of days," Bolton said. "I would be happy with a very small number of days. But we are going to work this out."
Both envoys said they expected the panel of 15 to first discuss the recent International Atomic Energy Agency report which said the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency could not confirm Iran's nuclear program was strictly for peaceful purposes, then give an airing of views on the draft resolution.
Bolton envisaged a "two step" solution to the Iran nuclear crisis. First was cooperation with the IAEA.
"If Iran continues to Bluster and to threaten, obfuscate and try to throw sand in our eyes, then we are on to a different circumstance," added Bolton.
