A meeting of the full UN Security Council scheduled for Friday to discuss new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear defiance has been put off to early next week, diplomats said Friday.
Envoys of the five veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States (P-5) — were to have briefed their 10 non-permanent colleagues on elements of a third sanctions resolution which was agreed at a meeting in Berlin Tuesday.
The new draft, agreed by foreign ministers of the P-5 and Germany Tuesday, would slap a third set of economic and trade sanctions against Iran for defying Security Council demands to halt uranium enrichment activities that the West fears could be used to make a nuclear bomb.
Friday's meeting, agreed here Thursday at a meeting of the P-5 plus Germany, was to have taken place at Britain's UN mission in New York.
"It's purely technical," Britain's deputy UN envoy Karen Pierce told reporters, referring to the postponement. She pointed to the council ambassadors' heavy schedule Friday, including protracted talks on whether to adopt a compromise statement on the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.
She said the Iran meeting was rescheduled to "early next week."
Britain, France and Germany have been spearheading efforts to negotiate an end to the nuclear standoff with Iran, which denies Western charges that it is seeking a nuclear weapons capability under the guise of its civilian nuclear program.
Diplomats said it was unclear whether the sponsors would circulate their text to the council's non-permanent members late Friday or next week.
