By Evelyn Leopold
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. negotiators sought on Wednesday to bridge differences with South Africa on sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, with the United States stressing the importance of Russian pressure on Iran to suspend uranium enrichment.
But after two hours of talks in the 15-nation Security Council, no consensus was reached on a draft resolution drawn up by Germany and the five permanent members -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- after a month of intensive talks. The negotiators then had a private session on what compromises could be made.
No vote has been set but South Africa's U.N. ambassador, Dumisani Kumalo, the current council president, doubted it would happen this week because any changes would have to be sent to 15 governments for approval.
Pretoria has proposed amendments that strip the text of its key provisions -- a ban on Iranian exports on all weapons and financial restrictions on Iranian officials and institutions.
But France's U.N. ambassador, Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, still held out hope, saying "Our wish is to have the resolution by the end of the week."
Tehran remained defiant in meeting the council's demand that it suspend uranium enrichment work, which can be used for bomb making as well as peaceful purposes. Iran says its work is for generating electricity but the United States and leading Europeans say Tehran wants to build a nuclear weapon.
And on Wednesday, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned against any attack on his country. Continued...
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Iran has stated today that if the United Nations proceeds with imposing sanctions on the country or force them to halt their uranium enrichment, they will proceed with "illegal actions," but it was not clear if those actions meant moving towards a nuclear bomb or not.

"Until today, what we have done has been in accordance with international regulation. But if they take illegal actions, we too can take illegal actions and will do so," said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the top leader of Iran during an address to his nation.

Khamenei also said that he will attack their "enemies" who attack Iran.

"If they want to treat us with threats and enforcement of coercion and violence, undoubtedly they must know that the Iranian nation and authorities will use all their capacities to strike enemies that attack," added Khamenei.

Despite the warning, the United States has said that the path to resolving their issues with Iran's nuclear enrichment is with "diplomacy."

"Iran is a country very much on the defensive right now. The United States is committed to pursuing a diplomatic solution to the challenges posed by Iran. This will require patience and persistence," said U.S. Department of State undersecretary for political affairs, Nicholas Burns.
 
Khamenei also stated that "nuclear energy is a must" and "a necessity in the long term. One day oil will dry up. ... The Iranian nation needs nuclear energy for life, not weapons."

France says that they are hopeful that by the end of this week, sanctions will be drawn up and imposed on Iran. 

Russia says that they "will not support excessive sanctions" on the Iranian nation and that "this is how they the U.S. acted in past times, during the Cold War, when they scared everyone with the Soviet threat and persuaded everybody to group together in a disciplined block," said Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov.

A meeting that took place on Wednesday between all 15 member nations of the U.N. Security Council was unsuccessful as no conclusion about Iran's nuclear program could be reached.