Tehran, June 09: After months of delicate diplomacy the United States is on the brink of ushering in a fourth round of punitive UN sanctions against Iran over its nuclear enrichment programme.
Passage of the sanctions resolution through the UN Security Council would be a moment of reckoning for Iran. Just as the US has worked tirelessly to make it happen, Tehran has spared no effort to stop it. Sources said that the measures, aimed at further isolating the regime of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, were likely to be approved later today.
“This is a more robust set of sanctions than we’ve ever had on Iran,” insisted Susan Rice, the American ambassador to the UN. “One of the reasons we think these sanctions will hurt is that the Iranians have been fighting so hard to defeat them.”
–Agencies