Iran seeks seat on Security Council

UNITED NATIONS | Tehran will seek a seat on the powerful U.N. Security Council next year, despite the trade sanctions the body has imposed to slow Iran’s nuclear program.

“It is our right, we have not been on the council in 50 years, and we are trying our best,” an official from the Iranian Mission told The Washington Times on Tuesday.

The official, who insisted that his name not be used, said Iran’s bid for a seat on the 2009-10 council already has the “confirmation” of the Asian Group, whose members Tehran would represent.

Asian diplomats confirmed Tuesday that Iran has sought the group’s approval to run for the council seat, which currently is filled by Indonesia and is reserved for an Asian country. Regional blocs often agree in advance which country will get a seat.

A second Iranian diplomat, Mohammad Mohammadi, the mission’s press attache, also confirmed Tehran’s desire for a seat on the council.

The Iranian delegate said the overlapping memberships of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the Nonaligned Movement and the Arab Group have given their support “in general.”

In December 2006, the Security Council first imposed targeted economic restrictions against senior officials in the Iranian government, military and nuclear program. It also has called on member states not to ship material or machinery that would aid Iran in enriching uranium or building nuclear weapons.

Tehran has dismissed the sanctions as illegal, and said its nuclear program is designed to produce only electricity, not weapons.

But the United States, Europe and some other countries fear that Tehran’s once-clandestine program is developing weapons that can be used against Israel or other enemies in the region. Negotiations between Iran and the five permanent members of the council plus Germany have stalled, although observers said public remarks have softened.

An informal agreement suggests that countries under council sanctions will not attempt to join the body, but that language is not written in the U.N. Charter or anywhere else.

“One should follow Security Council resolutions before they launch a bid to be on the Security Council,” said Richard Grenell, spokesman for U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad.

The Iranian delegate shrugged off the resistance, saying no U.N. rules are in place to stop the country’s bid for a two-year term.

“We consider the council’s sanctions illegitimate, anyway,” he said with a smile.

Regional blocs at the United Nations will send five new members to the council in January, each to be approved in October by a two-thirds vote of the 192-member General Assembly. However, countries often agree in advance to field only one candidate from a bloc, making the election automatic.

At present, the only country besides Iran that has expressed an interest in seeking the seat reserved for Asia is Japan, which is the largest individual contributor to the United Nations after the United States and has been re-elected to the council regularly, most recently for the 2005-06 term.

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