WSWS.org
31 March 2006

UN Security Council bows to US pressure for a statement against Iran
By Peter Symonds

After three weeks of behind-the-scenes US bullying, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a statement on Wednesday calling on Iran to halt its uranium enrichment program and giving the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) 30 days to report back. Although amended at the insistence of Russia and China, the statement provides Washington with the pretext for escalating the confrontation with Tehran and its threats of punitive sanctions and military action.

John Bolton, the US ambassador to the UN, immediately seized on the vote as “an unambiguous signal to Iran that the Security Council, charged with the maintenance of international peace and security under the Charter, is now dealing with the issue.” Ruling out any possibility of compromise, he belligerently warned that the US would be “back on the 31st day” in the UN Security Council “given the Iranian record to date of consistently flouting the International Atomic Energy Agency.”

The UN statement is riddled with the same glaring contradictions and rank hypocrisy as the preceding IAEA resolutions on Iran’s nuclear programs pushed through by the Bush administration. It begins by “reaffirming its commitment” to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and to the right of all states “without discrimination” to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. It then, however, goes on to express “serious concern” over Iran’s decision to resume research into uranium enrichment, even though such activities are not banned under the NPT.

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