The new sanctions, a modest increase from previous rounds, took months to negotiate but still did not carry the symbolic weight of a unanimous Security Council decision. Twelve of the 15 nations voted for the measure, while Turkey and Brazil voted against and Lebanon abstained. Beyond the restrictions imposed by the sanctions themselves, the vote sets stage for harsher measures that the United States and the European Union have promised to enact on their own once they had the imprimatur of the United Nations. European leaders are likely to discuss new measures at a summit meeting this month

Stop enriching neclear fuel

Iran has defied repeated demands from the Security Council to stop enriching nuclear fuel. It has built new, sometimes secret, centrifuge plants needed to enrich uranium — and has enriched it at higher levels. These actions have raised suspicions in the West that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapon, although leaders in Tehran insist their nuclear program is peaceful. Susan E. Rice, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, said the body had “risen to its responsibilities” by approving the measure, and that “now Iran should choose a wiser course.” “Until the world’s concerns with Iran’s nuclear defiance are fully resolved, we must work together to ensure that the sanctions in this resolution are fully and firmly implemented,” she told the Security Council after the vote.

Brqazil and Turkey against

Diplomats from Brazil and Turkey, which negotiated a deal with Iran last month to send some of its low-enriched uranium abroad in exchange for access to fuel for a medical reactor, criticized the sanctions, saying they could undermine further attempts at diplomacy. Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, Brazil’s representative to the United Nations, said, “We do not see sanctions as an effective instrument in this case.” Even as the Security Council was on the verge of voting, Iran was attempting to show that it was cooperating with the negotiation track. Ali Akbar Salehi, Head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, announced that the International Atomic Energy Agency had responded positively to the latest proposals negotiated by Brazil and Turkey. The deal, first proposed by the major powers in October as a confidence-building measure and then resurrected by Brazil and Turkey, was shunted aside by the United States and its allies because Iran said it would not stop enriching uranium. “This is a sign of the confusion of the great powers,” Mr. Salehi said. “On the one hand they send a response letter while on the other hand they take negative steps.”

Left the door open

The five permanent Security Council nations that negotiated the new sanctions — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — along with Germany, also left the door open to new diplomacy. The resolution contained the full text of a 2008 offer for increased civilian nuclear cooperation in exchange for Iran stopping enrichment, reports New York Times.