US moves to head off Iranian attempts to avoid new UN sanctions

US tries to blunt Iran anti-sanctions push

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration moved Thursday to head off a joint Turkish-Brazilian effort that could help Iran avoid new United Nations sanctions over its suspect nuclear program.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered a blunt message to Turkey’s foreign minister, telling him that Iran is not serious about accepting international demands to prove its nuclear program peaceful. She said Tehran must face fresh penalties unless it does a quick about-face and complies.

Clinton will likely give the same message to Brazil’s foreign minister ahead of a weekend visit to Tehran by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. U.S. officials think Iran will use the trip to try to sabotage their efforts to draft new U.N. Security Council sanctions. Turkey and Brazil are members of the council and are opposed to new sanctions.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said that in her call to Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (AH’-meht dah-voot-OH’-loo), Clinton had stressed that “in our view, Iran’s recent diplomacy was an attempt to stop Security Council action without actually taking steps to address international concerns about its nuclear program.”

“There is nothing new and nothing encouraging in Iran’s recent statements,” he told reporters. “…The burden is with Iran and its lack of seriousness about engagement requires us to intensify efforts to apply greater pressure.”

U.S. officials think Iran may turn the occasion of Silva’s visit into a broader meeting that would seek to shift attention from its refusal to comply with demands that it halt uranium enrichment, which can produce fuel for a nuclear bomb.

One official said Silva’s trip would likely mark the end of attempts to engage Iran on the matter.

Iran’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that Silva and Turkish President Abdullah Gul (HAH’-mihd gool) would be visiting Tehran next week and that Iran would also be hosting a summit of developing countries known as the Group of 15 next week, with at least eight presidents in attendance.

It also said that Brazil and Turkey had offered a promising new proposal for a nuclear fuel deal that would make the U.S.-led push for sanctions irrelevant. Tehran has made a series of counteroffers after rejecting a U.N.-backed plan that offered nuclear fuel rods for a reactor in exchange for Iran’s stock of lower-level enriched uranium.

But those offers have all fallen short of Western demands aimed at ensuring Tehran is unable to produce nuclear weapons.

Top Iranian officials have been courting Brazil, Turkey and other nonpermanent Security Council members to pre-empt possible sanctions. Only permanent Council members could veto proposed sanctions, but strong opposition by nonpermanent members could strengthen Iran’s case.

Turkish officials have said they and Brazil are in constant contact to try to find a solution and that they are “building on” the U.N.-backed nuclear exchange plan.

Meanwhile, Brazil has urged Western nations to negotiate a fair solution with Iran.