US strikes compromise with EU on Iran N-plan

VIENNA: The United States yielded to Europe’s big three — Britain, Germany and France — in a compromise UN draft resolution that condemns Iran’s nuclear programme but stops short of taking the issue to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions, diplomats said. .

After five days of intense discussions with US diplomats, the three main EU countries filed the draft late Monday with the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the diplomats said.

The resolution is expected to be adopted by consensus by the IAEA’s 35-nation board of governors when it meets Wednesday, resuming a meeting broken off last Friday due to the stalemate.

Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA, Ali Akbar Salehi, who had said that taking the issue to the UN Security Council could set off an international crisis, told AFP his country was pleased with the draft resolution.

“The US has dropped demands to take Iran immediately before the Security Council, which could impose sanctions, for “non-compliance” with the NPT, the diplomat said. But Washington had still wanted a guarantee that the Council be alerted if Iran’s violations continue. The US got this guarantee, considered a “trigger mechanism” in the draft, a Western diplomat said. —AFP

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