Experts: Neither Iran's consent for uranium exchange, no new sanctions of West would lead to constructive decision

Although Iran signed an agreement on exchange of uranium on the territory of Turkey and despite the ongoing discussions on the UN Security Council resolution on Iran, it is unworthy to expect a constructive solution to the Iranian nuclear problem, experts say. "On both sides these manoeuvres are camouflage, Philip Carl Salzman, professor of Anthropology at McGill University, wrote in an e-mail to TN. For their part, the Iranians have no intentions of changing course, which is full speed ahead for gaining regional and international power. Their proposals and offers are simply intending to obstruct any serious pressure against them." Despite that Iran, Turkey and Brazil have reached a trilateral agreement on uranium exchange, according to which the exchange of Tehran's 1,200 kg of enriched uranium with 120 kg of highly enriched fuel will be carried out in Turkish territory, the UN Security Council permanent members continue to discuss the new draft resolution on Iran . On Tuesday a closed meeting at the headquarters of the Organization in New York discussed a UN Security Council draft resolution on Iran. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that five members of the UN Security Council with the veto power have agreed to adopt the draft resolution, which requires more stringent penalties against the Islamic Republic in connection with its intention to continue work on uranium enrichment. The ten-page document envisages inspections of cargo vessels and the resumption of control over money transfers involving Iranian banks. In addition, the new resolution will include the expansion of already existing list of weapons banned to be sold to Iran. Salzman said that for their part, the U.S., and especially Russia and China, propose, discuss, and may even decide on some weak and meaningless sanctions, in order to obscure the fact that they have no intention of engaging in any serious measures to stop Iran's nuclear weapon program. Russia and China, who previously opposed the introduction of new tough measures against Iran and urged a diplomatic solution, joined the United States, Great Britain, France and Germany in their support for the IAEA resolution, insisting, however, on conducting a "dual path" strategy for Iran, involving the combination of sanctions and negotiations. "So it is all a shadow play, with no substance behind it. No resolution will come from it, no happy result. We shall all pay for this later," Salzman said. Shahram Akbarzadeh, Deputy Director of National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies at the University of Melbourne, said that the Iranian behaviour reminds me of the politics of brinkmanship that Saddam Hussein was following until his very last day. "Iranian leadership is trying to torpedo the US push for greater UN sanctions by driving a wedge between Russia/China and the US, Akbarzadeh wrote in an e-mail to TN. The uranium transfer deal was aimed at presenting the international community with 'new realities', timed to coincide with UN discussions for further sanctions". According to the expert, this could have the desired