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The five permanent members of the UN Security Council reached a deal on
a resolution that would give Iran until the end of August to suspend
uranium enrichment or face the threat of economic and diplomatic
sanctions.

The draft was formally circulated to the full 15-member council late
Friday and will likely be adopted next week.

Because of Russian and Chinese demands, the text is weaker than earlier
drafts, which would have made the threat of sanctions immediate. The
draft now essentially requires the council to hold further discussions
before it considers sanctions.

"There [are] no sanctions introduced on Iran in the draft resolution
which we are finalizing," Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said.

Churkin stressed that work on the resolution was not finished, raising
the possibility the introduction of the draft could be postponed.

The resolution, drafted by Britain, France and Germany with US backing,
is a follow-up to a July 12 agreement - by the foreign ministers of
those four countries, plus Russia and China - to refer Teheran to the
Security Council for not responding to incentives to suspend enrichment.

The ministers asked that council members adopt a resolution making
Iran's suspension of enrichment activities mandatory. Teheran said last
week it would reply August 22 to the Western incentive package, but the
council decided to go ahead with a resolution and not wait for Iran's
response.

Iran on Friday called again for international negotiations on its
nuclear ambitions and said it was considering the incentives. Western
nations have dismissed the idea of such talks without a halt to Iran's
uranium enrichment.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, speaking to reporters in
Malaysia, said Teheran considers the package as a "positive step" toward
a diplomatic solution.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday Moscow wants a swift,
positive response from Iran on the package, Russian news agencies said.

"We are counting on the Iranian leadership to finish studying (the
incentives) and give a positive answer as soon as possible," Interfax,
ITAR-Tass and RIA-Novosti quoted Lavrov as saying on a plane en route to
Dubai from Malaysia where he attended an Asian security forum.

The US and some of its allies accuse Iran of seeking to produce highly
enriched uranium and plutonium for nuclear weapons. Teheran maintains
its nuclear program is purely peaceful and aimed at generating
electricity.
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Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST Jul. 29, 2006
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