BERLIN, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- The U.N. Security Council's five permanent members and Germany will meet in Berlin Tuesday to discuss a new resolution against Iran.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier hosts his counterparts from the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia to find a common position on a possible third round of U.N. sanctions against Iran, which so far has defied international calls to halt its controversial nuclear program.
Steinmeier said the meeting would show an international community that is united in its determination to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear bomb. The West's concerns, Steinmeier said, "are not eliminated."
However, senior German conservative politicians hold rather limited hopes for the meeting.
"My fear is that Moscow and Beijing will express so many reservations that a much-needed sign of a determined common front won't be forthcoming," Eckart von Klaeden, the foreign policy spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives, said in a radio interview.
While Washington wants a third round of sanctions, it will be hard to convince Russia and China of their necessity, given that a U.S. intelligence assessment released in early December reported that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003.
Steinmeier, who said he wants to know how far Iran had progressed with its program by 2003, is meeting bilaterally with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.
