UNITED NATIONS — The Security Council unanimously adopted new sanctions against Iran on Saturday over its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment -- a move meant to show that Tehran's defiance would leave it increasingly isolated, but compliance would bring it rewards.
Iran's foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, immediately decried the U.N. resolution, calling it "unlawful" and an "abuse" of the Security Council's power.
Mottaki, insisting that Iran was not developing nuclear weapons, said his country would never stop its enrichment activities or give up its right to develop nuclear energy.
"Suspension is neither an option nor a solution," he told the Security Council, which voted amid diplomatic tensions heightened by Iran's seizure Friday of 15 British naval personnel in the Persian Gulf.
Mottaki spoke in place of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who said he could not come for the session because his flight crew did not receive their visas in time, a contention the United States disputed.
U.S. Ambassador Alejandro D. Wolff warned that if Iran didn't stop enrichment within 60 days, the council was ready to impose more sanctions.
"The unanimous passage of Resolution 1747 sends a clear and unambiguous message to Iran: The regime's continued pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability ... will only further isolate Iran and make it less, not more secure," Wolff said after the vote.
Increasing pressure
The resolution is the third in a series of Security Council measures aimed at compelling Iran to halt uranium enrichment and provide answers about its nuclear program, which it developed in secret for nearly 20 years. Enriched uranium can be used for nuclear power, or if highly refined, for atomic weapons.
The first measure came in July after Iran rejected a European offer to help it develop light water power plants with no weapons applications and the Security Council demanded Iran halt its nuclear program or face sanctions.
The second was in December, when the Security Council first imposed sanctions, banning the supply of nuclear and missile technology to Iran, and freezing the assets of 10 key Iranian companies and people related to those programs.
A European incentives package promising investment, technological assistance and partnership in a nuclear power program has remained on the table, but Iran has rejected it. The package would take the technology to develop a complete fuel cycle -- and the potential for developing nuclear weapons -- out of Iran's hands. The council has promised to suspend sanctions after Iran verifiably suspends enrichment activities.
