Growing international pressure on Iran

From THE JERUSALEM POST, Nov. 28, 2009, by HILARY LEILA KRIEGER and HAVIV RETTIG GUR:

The US and Israel expressed satisfaction over the weekend with what officials from both countries termed "a growing momentum" of international pressure on Iran to halt activities that would enable it to construct nuclear weapons.

The UN's International Atomic Energy Agency on Friday passed a resolution censuring Iran 25-3, demanding that Teheran immediately freeze construction of its newly revealed nuclear facility and heed Security Council resolutions to stop uranium enrichment.

...[Israel's] Foreign Ministry urged world powers to make certain the demands on Iran "did not stop with just rhetoric," according to ministry spokesman Yossi Levy.

"There are two elements that will decide if international pressure is successful," Levy said. "One is an unbending schedule [for diplomatic talks], and two, a price tag for every Iranian violation. When these are in place, the diplomatic process will have a momentum that will ensure the sanctions on the Iranian regime are painful and effective."

....The 25 members of the 35-nation board that backed the resolution included the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, marking a rare measure of unity from the six world powers on Iran.

...In Teheran, a conservative Iranian legislator warned Saturday that his country may pull out of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty after the UN resolution censure - a move that could seriously undermine world attempts to prevent Iran from developing atomic weapons...