A meeting of foreign ministers of Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany hosted by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice failed to break the impasse over the need to invoke Chapter 7 of the UN Charter on the Iranian nuclear tangle, diplomats said.
Russia and China remained unconvinced with the arguments of US, Britain and France in support of their conviction that the new resolution seeking an end to Iranian nuclear enrichment programme should be under Chapter 7, which makes the decision enforceable.
The meeting on Monday came as the American officials dismissed a letter sent by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to his American counterpart George W Bush, saying the document, which is 16 pages long in Persian and contains 18 pages of English translation, offers no solution to the nuclear issue.
Russia and China agree to the need for another Security Council resolution to demand Iran stop its nuclear enrichment programme but strongly oppose invocation of Chapter 7.
Their argument is that all resolutions of the Council are binding and Chapter 7 provides for enforcement that could mean sanctions and war to which they are opposed.
But the United States, Britain and France strongly believe that the resolution seeking an end to the Iranian uranium programme must be under Chapter 7 and Washington has threatened to seek vote in the Council this week even without Moscow and Beijing coming on board.
Despite all the rhetoric and brinkmanship, the five veto-wielding members of the Council want a unanimous resolution and were making efforts to find an acceptable language, diplomats said.
Russia, diplomats add, has floated the idea that one or two paragraphs could be under Chapter 7.
Rice is to address the Council later today on Sudan and she might touch on Iran. The Chinese diplomats would not say whether Beijing would use the veto should the Western power force a vote on US backed British-French draft resolution, which is under Chapter 7.
The resolution needs 9 votes in the 15-member Council to be adopted and if it gets less than nine votes, the question of using veto does not arise. The two can just abstain.
