The United Nations Security Council unanimously voted Saturday to impose sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.

The resolution, which was sponsored by Britain, Germany, and France, was approved in a 15-0 vote that included a yes vote by Qatar.

Iran rejected the council's decision, calling the sanctions illegal and vowing to continue its nuclear program. Iran's parliament speaker said prior to the vote that parliament would alter the Islamic Republic's relationship with the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) nuclear watchdog if the sanctions were approved.

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"Today we are placing Iran in the small category of states under Security Council sanctions," acting U.S. Ambassador Alejandro Wolff told the council before the vote.

"We will not hesitate to return to this body to seek further action should Iran fail to comply," Wolff added.

Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, who was successful in watering down parts of the resolution, emphasized however that the resolution did not permit any use of force.

Moscow's earlier hesitation over supporting the resolution prompted a phone call Saturday between U.S. President George W. Bush to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had reviewed the resolution until the last minute following two months of tough negotiations. Russia is building an $800 million light-water reactor for Tehran that is exempted in the resolution.

The resolution demands Tehran end all research on uranium enrichment, which can produce fuel for nuclear power plants as well as for bombs, and halt research and development that can make or deliver atomic weapons.

The resolution is under Article 41 of Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which makes enforcement mandatory but restricts action to nonmilitary measures. It would suspend sanctions if Tehran in turn suspended "all enrichment related and reprocessing activities, including research and development."

The thrust of the sanctions is a ban on imports and exports of dangerous materials and technology relating to uranium enrichment, reprocessing and heavy-water reactors, as well as ballistic missile delivery systems.

Iran has vowed to continue its nuclear program, which first came to light in 2002 and Iran says is for peaceful purposes. (Click here for a timeline of Iran's nuclear program)

Russia's Churkin said, "Russia views this resolution as a serious message being sent to Iran regarding the need to more openly and accurately cooperate with the IAEA to lift or resolve the remaining concerns and questions relating to the nuclear program.

Last-minute changes
In a final attempt to win Russian support ahead of Saturday's vote, key European nations circulated a reworked draft of the resolution.

Russia and China were able to make a number of last-minute changes to the resolution's clauses that prohibit the transfer of technological knowledge and the sale of various components to Iran. As a result of the changes, the resolution does not prohibit normal business relations with companies and other entities listed as being involved in the Iranian nuclear program.

The resolution also was altered to restrict the travel of the listed officials and company representatives only when the travel is related to the nuclear program. Member states are required, however, to report any suspicious travel by Iranian officials and company representatives.

Russia was unable to prevent the publication of the list of officials and companies, although, as a last minute gesture to the Russians, the Europeans agreed to remove the Iranian space agency from the list, which list also includes entities involved in the development of missiles.

"This is it," Britain's UN Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said after presenting the final draft to Security Council members at a closed meeting.

Jones Parry said the changes did not involve any major concessions and "increase the chances of agreement tomorrow." Council diplomats said they cleared up ambiguities in the text and eliminated statements of things that the resolution didn't cover.

"Actually, this is a very nice step forward," Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for Russia's UN Mission, told two reporters after the meeting.

Britain, France and Germany, the co-sponsors of the resolution, had been pressing for a vote Friday. The vote Saturday culminated two months of tough negotiations on a resolution to put pressure on Iran to suspend uranium enrichment and return to talks on its nuclear program.

Sneh: Decision time approaching
On Friday, Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh (Labor) said the time for Israel and the rest of the world to decide what to do about Tehran's pursuit of nuclear power is fast approaching.

"The time for the international, and also the Israeli, decision-making point is coming closer," he told Israel Radio.

Sneh implied that effective sanctions would preclude the necessity for a military assault, saying: "Right now I think that we are truly approaching what is really the last time, that if the international community does what it needs to do - and not in a weak or pathetic way, but in a determined way... in ways that cause suffering to this regime, which is sworn to wipe us out - then there will be no need to weigh other options."

Sneh maintains that an attack is not the preferable option, but the delayed response of the international community makes alternative options seem less successful.

He said he hopes Israel would not get to the point where it would have to evaluate the military option.

Moscow's UN ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, according to in talks among six key nations Thursday, wanted to dilute a provision calling for a freeze on financial assets abroad of 11 individuals and 12 organizations associated with Iran's nuclear program to prevent them from buying dangerous materials. The list is attached to the resolution.

Churkin told reporters Friday he approved of a ban on enrichment, reprocessing and heavy-water nuclear reactors but that "other activities should not be in any way prohibited or restricted."

In a concession to Moscow on Wednesday, the Europeans deleted a mandatory travel ban and instead told nations to notify a Security Council sanctions panel if any Iranians on the list transit through their countries.

The measure is a reaction to Iran's failure to comply with an August 31 UN deadline to suspend uranium enrichment work and resume negotiations.

The sanctions would be lifted once Iran had fully complied with Security Council resolutions and directives from the International Atomic Energy Agency. But if Iran refuses, the council would consider further measures, the text says.


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