Iran has left no doubt it intends to seek nuclear weapons after violating a U.N. Security Council deadline to suspend uranium enrichment, and the council must now be ready to impose sanctions, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said Thursday. Security Council unanimity was not needed before taking action against Iran, Bolton told reporters, referring to continuing Chinese and Russian reluctance to move quickly on sanctions. Bolton s remarks came shortly after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a report that Iran shows no signs of freezing enrichment, noting that Tehran started work on a new batch earlier this week. Iran s refusal to cooperate fully with the IAEA and its continued development of nuclear technology makes clear that Tehran is seeking an atomic bomb, Bolton said. There s simply no explanation for the range of Iranian behavior which we have seen over the years other than that they re pursuing a weapons capability, he said. Last month, the Security Council gave Iran until August 31 to suspend uranium enrichment, and warned that it would consider sanctions if those activities were not halted. However, Iran refused. Bolton said the Security Council will wait to take any action until European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana meets with Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani next week. We re certainly ready to proceed here in New York when we re given the instructions to do so, he said. Despite statements from China and Russia expressing reluctance for sanctions, Bolton said the world should not assume that the Security Council would not punish Iran. Russia and China, through their foreign ministers, committed to seeking sanctions if Iran did not comply, he said.
