(Reuters) - Big power envoys were to meet on Wednesday to pursue the quest for fresh U.N. sanctions to try to halt Iran's nuclear program, but diplomats forecast weeks of haggling over a text the Security Council can pass
Ambassadors from the five permanent members of the council and Germany were holding their second meeting in a week since China, which has close economic ties with Iran, reluctantly agreed to join the talks.
They were discussing a U.S. draft resolution, first circulated weeks ago, that provides for a fourth round of sanctions on Iran for its nuclear activities, which the West says aim to produce atomic arms but Tehran says are peaceful.
The draft proposes new curbs on Iranian banking, a full arms embargo, tougher measures against Iranian shipping, moves against members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp and a ban on new investments in Iran's energy sector.
But diplomats told Reuters that China's U.N. Ambassador Li Baodong had indicated displeasure at the proposals affecting Iran's energy sector at a three-hour meeting last Thursday with his U.S., British, French, German and Russian counterparts.
Other diplomats said that meeting had been largely confined to statements of opening positions by the ambassadors and that the hard work of agreeing a text remained to be done.
U.S. President Barack Obama pressed 46 countries attending a nuclear security summit in Washington on Tuesday for swift sanctions on Iran but acknowledged China had concerns about the economic impact and said negotiations were difficult.
He said he had told Chinese President Hu Jintao there must be consequences for Iran's continued uranium enrichment, but added, "The Chinese are obviously concerned about what ramifications this might have on the economy generally".
Iran is the third largest crude oil supplier to energy-hungry China.
"QUITE FAR APART"
One diplomat in New York with knowledge of the negotiations put the chances of an agreement in April at only 25-30 percent. Diplomats see little chance of a resolution in May when Lebanon, whose government includes Iranian-backed Hezbollah, chairs the Security Council, and say June seems more likely.
"We're right at the beginning of the discussion on a text here, and it should be no surprise that they're quite far apart," the diplomat said. "The Chinese want something much, much weaker and much, much narrower" than the U.S. draft.
Diplomats say Russia is keener than China to slap new sanctions on Iran, but it, too, wants to water down the text.
"If we speak about energy sanctions, I'll give you my opinion. I think that we are unlikely to achieve a consolidated position in the world community on this issue," Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with ABC television this week.
Iran, a major oil and gas exporter, says its nuclear ambitions are limited to generating electricity and refuses to suspend its enrichment program.
U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns said on Wednesday China was likely to agree to sanctions. But he told a Senate hearing it would be "very difficult" to get Beijing or Moscow to agree to cut off refined petroleum products to Iran, a proposal backed by many U.S. lawmakers.
Underlining Burns's point, industry sources said on Wednesday that state-run Chinaoil had sold a total of about 600,000 barrels of gasoline worth around $55 million to the Islamic Republic.
"As long as there is money to be made, and economic benefits to be taken advantage of, Iran will always find ready sellers of gasoline from the international market," a trader said.
Western powers say they want to stop Iran acquiring nuclear weapons, a prospect they say would be hugely destabilizing to the Middle East.
Iran could produce enough highly enriched uranium for a single nuclear bomb in as little as one year but would probably need three to five years to build a deliverable weapon, a top Pentagon official said on Wednesday.
Additional reporting by Luke Pachymuthu in Dubai, Seng Li Peng in Singapore and Adam Entousin Washington; Editing by David Storey
Reuters
