Iran plans to resume uranium enrichment
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-05 06:07

Agreement on the final wording of the text was achieved only overnight, just hours before Saturday's meeting convened, after Washington compromised on Egypt's demand that the resolution include support for the creation of a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East. Egypt and other Arab states have long linked the two issues of Iran's atomic ambitions and Israel's nuclear weapons status.

The resolution recognized "that a solution to the Iranian issue would contribute to global nonproliferation efforts and ... the objective of a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction, including their means of delivery."

A Western diplomat at the meeting said the United States felt strongly about not linking Israel to nuclear concerns in the Middle East when it considers Iran the real threat. But the Americans relented in the face of overwhelming European support for such a clause.

Egypt, which is influential with other Arab board members, needed the clause to satisfy domestic concerns, a senior European diplomat said.

Diplomats said support for Iran had shrunk among board members since Russia and China lined up behind the United States, France and Britain — the other three permanent council members — earlier in the week.

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