United Nations: Iran's declaration that it has enriched its first batch of uranium is unlikely to spur the United Nations to act sooner than May on the question of Iran's nuclear ambitions, diplomats said yesterday.
Following Iran's announcement, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the council, which last month called on Tehran to suspend all enrichment work, would need to take up the issue again.
But several council members said the UN body had agreed in a statement last month to wait for further action until International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohammad Al Baradei makes his report at the end of April.
"When we have this report, we will react," French UN Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere told reporters. Nor did the Iranian announcement convince all council members that it was time to take a tougher line on Tehran.
"I think people are still talking about diplomatic efforts," Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya said when asked whether China felt it was now time for the council to step up its efforts on Iran.
Wang stressed it remained Beijing's view that diplomacy was the best way forward and said the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany planned to meet again soon.
