UN imposes more sanctions against Iran

The United Nations Security Council on Monday passed a third round of sanctions against Iran for failing to suspend uranium-enrichment activities.

Fourteen countries voted in favour of the resolution, which was formally submitted last month by France and Britain. Only Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, abstained.

Iran's UN ambassador told the council just before the vote that the government would not comply with the "unlawful action" against its "peaceful nuclear program."

The resolution calls for:

• Asset freeze and travel bans for several Iranian officials linked to the country's nuclear activities.
• A ban on trade in equipment and technology that can be used in both civilian and nuclear programs.
• Financial monitoring of two banks with suspected links to proliferation activities.
• Inspections for shipments to and from Iran suspected of carrying prohibited goods.

Iran insists its enrichment activities are intended only for peaceful civilian purposes, but the U.S., the European Union and others suspect its real aim is to produce atomic weapons.

The vote comes roughly two weeks after the UN's nuclear watchdog said Iran has increased the transparency in its nuclear enrichment program, but has not shown enough evidence to demonstrate its goals are peaceful.

The International Atomic Energy Agency report praised Iran for allowing international monitors into nuclear development sites, but said the country had made no progress on addressing Western concerns about alleged nuclear experiments and research.

On Monday, IAEA director Mohamed El Baradei urged Iran to co-operate with an investigation into intelligence suggesting Tehran studied how to make atomic bombs.

"Iran continues to maintain that these alleged weaponization studies are related to conventional weapons only or fabricated. However a full-fledged examination of this issue has yet to take place," he said at the opening of the IAEA governors meeting in Vienna.

"I urge Iran to be as active and co-operative as possible in working with the agency to clarify this matter of serious concern."