New York - The four Western powers trying to rein in
Iran's nuclear programme accused Tehran on Thursday of shipping arms to
Syria in violation of UN sanctions and ignoring demands to open key
nuclear facilities to UN inspectors.
The United States, Britain,
France and Germany expressed growing concern that Iran's goal is
building a nuclear arsenal — not nuclear power plants for peaceful
civilian use, as Tehran insists.
US Ambassador Susan Rice told a
Security Council meeting on the implementation of UN sanctions that
members can't be complacent about Iran's "latest leaps forward in its
prohibited nuclear activities".
"We must recognise that we are facing a situation that continues to worsen," she said.
A spokesperson for Iran's mission to the UN did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
Rice
and ambassadors from the other Western powers expressed serious concern
at Iran's arms exports to President Bashar Assad's regime in violation
of a UN ban against all weapons exports.
Assad's 'sinister work'
She
reiterated the conclusion of the panel of experts monitoring
implementation of sanctions that Syria is now the "central party to
illicit Iranian arms transfers".
Britain's UN Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said Iran's supply of weaponry to Syria is unacceptable and it must stop.
"It
is in stark contrast to the will of the Syrian people and a reminder of
Iran's hypocrisy in claiming to support freedom in the Arab world," he
said.
France's UN Ambassador Gerard Araud accused Assad of
massacring his own people and urged rigorous implementation of sanctions
to keep Iran from providing his forces with the arms to accomplish his
"sinister work".
Rice called on states in the region to "work
together and redouble their efforts to deny, inspect and seize illicit
Iranian shipments".
The 18-month Syrian conflict has escalated to a civil war which has killed more than 23 000 people, according to activists.
Alarm at latest report
Germany's
UN Ambassador Peter Wittig said reports indicate Iran is shipping arms
to Syria "under a humanitarian pretext", which makes it crucial that all
countries enforce the sanctions to keep pressure on Iran.
Russia
and China, who have vetoed three Western-backed resolutions aimed at
pressuring the Assad regime to end the violence and start talks with the
opposition, made no mention of Iranian arms shipments to Syria in their
speeches to the council but did address the nuclear issue.
On
Iran's nuclear programme, the Western powers expressed alarm at the
latest report from the International Atomic Energy Agency.
It
said Iran has effectively shut down a probe of a site suspected of being
used for work on nuclear weapons development while doubling the number
of machines it could use to make the core of nuclear warheads at an
underground bunker safe from airborne attack.
The nuclear
concerns will be at the top of the agenda at a ministerial meeting of
the four Western powers, Russia and China on 27 September on the
sidelines of the annual General Assembly gathering of world leaders that
begins on Tuesday.
"The Iranian regime is at a crossroads,"
Britain's Lyall Grant told the council. "It can continue to ignore the
international community's concerns over its nuclear programme, or it can
negotiate a settlement that will help to realise the benefits of a
civil nuclear programme.
"It can support the oppressive regime
in Syria in suppressing freedom, or it can play a constructive role in
the region. It can be an exporter of terrorism or a responsible member
of the international community."
- AP