A new draft U.N. Security Council resolution against Iran will focus on the country’s elite Revolutionary Guard, the security service that increasingly has taken over Iran’s economy since 2005, according to two U.S. officials briefed on the plan late Monday.
On Tuesday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the United States has reached an agreement with Russia and China, two of the five veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council.
The sanctions deal appears to be a direct rebuke of Iran’s announcement Monday that the Islamic republic has agreed to ship some of its spent nuclear fuel to Turkey.
“This announcement is as convincing an answer to the efforts undertaken by Tehran over the last few days as any we could provide,” Mrs. Clinton said of the sanctions deal. “There are a number of unanswered questions regarding the announcement coming from Tehran.”
One official familiar with the sanctions draft said: “It is focused on the Revolutionary Guard corps. It looks at the areas from shipping to banking to insurance that have been in discussions for years now.”
The focus on the Revolutionary Guard corps is a different tack that many in Congress favor. Currently, legislation aimed at discouraging companies from selling refined petroleum to Iran is in conference between the House and Senate.
Those sanctions, because they target Iran’s entire economy, are opposed by Iran’s democratic opposition. The White House has asked congressional leaders to place an exemption in that bill for companies from “cooperating nations,” a loophole that likely will include Chinese and Russian concerns.
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