Security Council Postpones Meeting

The U.N. Security Council postponed the meeting scheduled for Tuesday related to Iran's nuclear program, searching for new ways to pressure Tehran that will also suit Russia and China. This decision came after a 4 and a half hours meeting, in which the members of the council made little progress.

France and the United Kingdom issued a statement demanding Iran to cease its nuclear activities, giving a two-week deadline until imposing possible sanctions, but China and Russia oppose it. Officials said they will take into consideration all possibilities that might lead to support from all the 15 Security Council members.

The two opposing members expressed their concerns that, along with these sanctions, Iran would withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and expulse the International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors.

"From the beginning I proposed that if the Security Council is to support IAEA, it is to have a brief political statement and support the IAEA, call on the Iranians to cooperate and then I think put some pressure" on them, China's U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya said.

A delay for the plan could lead Western Nations to resort to a resolution, which only needs nine votes to pass but can be defeated by a veto, which China and Russia have the power to cast.

"We believe that the members of the Security Council all have an interest in issuing this presidential statement, because the most important step we can now take is to send a common, united, clear message to Iran - that is, suspend your nuclear program and return to negotiations," R. Nicholas Burns, under secretary of state for political affairs, said.

"It may take some time to achieve the final wording, but we believe that goal is attainable."