The United States hopes the UN Security Council can vote Thursday on a
draft resolution imposing sanctions on Iran for its defiance over its nuclear
program, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said at a briefing yesterday.
"We don't think there is anything standing in the way of having a vote
tomorrow," McCormack said.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice consulted through telephone
Wednesday with British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett to discuss "the
remaining gaps" over the text of the draft resolution, McCormack said.
McCormack said Monday that Rice and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
talked through telephone about the resolution to impose sanctions on Iran, and
voiced hope to vote on the draft resolution "in the very near future."
The United States has been seeking to impose sanctions on Iran through the UN
Security Council on the grounds that the Islamic country develops a nuclear
weapon program under the cover of a civilian program. However, Iran has said its
nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.
