Russian envoy to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, said that unless Iran suspends its uranium enrichment within the next couple of days, Russia would support the new round of UNSC resolution which is slated to come up for discussions at the Security Council1.

In other reports, France and Britain have delayed a UN Security Council vote on the third round of sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme. A vote was scheduled for February 28, 2008 which was pushed back to March 3, 2008. The draft resolution has the support of the five permanent members of the council and six non-permanent members. South Africa, Vietnam, Libya and Indonesia are the four non-permanent members who do not currently support the resolution. Britain and France hope that delaying the voting by a couple of days would provide enough time to iron out the differences and achieve a unanimous resolution as in the cases of the two earlier Security Council resolutions on Iran2.

• 1. “Russia tells Iran to halt enrichment or face sanctions,” International Herald Tribune, February 27, 2008, at http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=10491707
• 2. “UN Security Council vote on Iran sanctions delayed again,” Times of India, March 1, 2008, at http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-2828564,prtpage-1.cms