VIENNA - The US, Russia and France have replied to a proposal by Iran to swap some of its enriched uranium for reactor fuel, effectively dismissing the idea hours before an expected UN Security Council vote Wednesday on new sanctions against Iran, diplomats said. Three diplomats familiar with the replies say they contain a series of questions that in effect stall any negotiations on the issue. The US, Russia and France have said the swap proposal negotiated by Brazil and Turkey would leave Iran with enough material to make a nuclear weapon. And they note that Iran intends to continue a new program of enriching uranium to a higher level. The diplomats spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because their information was confidential. US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday called the proposed new UN sanctions against Iran's suspect nuclear program the toughest ever, telling reporters in Ecuador's capital that there is strong support for a fourth resolution penalizing Iran for its refusal to prove its nuclear program is peaceful and defying international demands to halt uranium enrichment. "I think it is fair (to say) that these are the most significant sanctions that Iran has ever faced," Clinton said at a news conference with Ecuador's president. "The amount of unity that has been engendered by the international community is very significant." She declined to predict the outcome of the vote in the 15-member Security Council, but U. Defense Secretary Robert Gates in London said the measure would pass and pave the way for tougher additional measures by the US and its allies. "The strategy here is a combination of diplomacy and pressure to persuade the Iranians that they are headed in the wrong direction in terms of their own security, that they will undermine their security by pursuit of nuclear weapons, not enhance it," Gates said. In the final version of the UN resolution, obtained Monday by The Associated Press, sanctions would be tougher than previous penalties but still far short of crippling economic punishments or an oil embargo. The sanctions would ban Iran from pursuing "any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons," bar Iranian investment in activities such as uranium mining, and prohibit Iran from buying several categories of heavy weapons including attack helicopters and missiles. Annexes to the resolution, agreed to Tuesday, would target 40 new Iranian companies or organizations, including 15 linked to Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard. One person was added to the previous list of 40 Iranians subject to an asset freeze, Javad Rahiqi, who heads the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran's Esfahan Nuclear Technology Center. The sanctions list also includes 22 companies or organizations involved in nuclear or ballistic missile activities and three entities linked to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines. If the resolution is approved, the number of entities under sanctions would more than double from 35 at present to 75
