"A new U.N. Security Council resolution punishing Iran for its failure to comply with demands to cease uranium enrichment remains weeks away, despite last week's agreement on the matter between the five permanent Council members plus Germany. And the most positive spin U.S. officials are able to put on the new sanctions package is that it will carry the support of Russia and China. That support, of course, comes at a price: The new resolution is unlikely to be more than a mildly incremental increase of the existing sanctions package, which Tehran has simply ignored.
Western members of the Council are pressing for a resolution that requires countries to deny entry to any person involved in Iran's nuclear programs and, for the first time, include a ban on all trade in civilian nuclear equipment or technology that could also be used to create nuclear weapons. The U.S. and its allies also want U.N. member states to be asked to inspect cargo heading to and from Iran if there is reason to believe that contraband is aboard — a measure that raises the danger of further incidents at sea between U.S. and Iranian warships in the already tense Persian Gulf.
Progress in escalating sanctions has been undermined by Iran's posture, which while defying the demand to cease uranium enrichment has, nonetheless, demonstrated a greater willingness to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to resolve the underlying transparency issues that prompted the U.N.'s demand for an enrichment freeze in the first place. A new IAEA report is expected by the Council in February, which could cite further evidence of Iranian cooperation."
This pressure from western countries shows how fearful they are of Iran becoming a "self-sufficient" nuclear power. The little to no effect of U.S. sanctions on Iran proves that Iran is becoming a developed nation and will not be "bullied" around by the western countries.
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