Natanz nuclear facility in Iran. Photo credit: Hamed Saber

US President Barack Obama yesterday accused Iran of trying to build a nuclear weapon and called for tough and immediate sanctions on the Islamic Republic – but this time, he was backed by Iran’s longtime ally on the UN Security Council, Russia.

Iran this week began enriching uranium from 3.5 percent to 20 percent, claiming it needed the uranium to further medical research for cancer patients. But the move spooked Western powers and now, Russia: “Iran claims it is not trying to acquire nuclear weapons,” Nikolai Patrushev, head of the Russian National Security Council, told reporters. “But actions such as starting to enrich low-enriched uranium up to 20 per cent raise doubts in other countries and these doubts are fairly well grounded.”

According to The Times, the enrichment process is permitted under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but is forbidden to Iran under five different Security Council resolutions. This, coupled with the fact that Tehran does not have the technology to convert uranium into fuel rods is bolstering concern that the country is moving towards weaponising the uranium.

The Times Middle East correspondent, Catherine Philp, wrote today that while China could veto tougher sanctions against Iran, history, and the fact that Russia is also expressing frustration with the Islamic Republic, mean that it probably won’t. “Beijing has long adhered to a policy of non-interference in the affairs of other countries. It relentlessly opposes any action that might open the door to foreign meddling in its own internal affairs,” she wrote. “Its economic rise has, however, made it harder and harder to stay out of the geopolitical game.”

China has only used its veto powers twice since joining the UN Security Council in 1971, so it’s far more likely that it will abstain, giving the sanctions a much better chance of passing. “The question then,” Philps asked, “is will they work?”

In The New York Times, Adam Lowther, a defense analyst at the Air Force Research Institute, wrote on Tuesday that Iran building a nuclear weapon might actually be a good thing: “There is reason to believe that the initial shock of a nuclear Iran would soon be followed a new regional dynamic strikingly like that of cold-war Europe. Saudi Arabia and Iraq would be united along with their smaller neighbors by their fear of Iran; the United States would take the lead in creating a stable regional security environment. In addition, our reluctant European allies, and possibly even China and Russia, would have a much harder time justifying sales of goods and technology to Tehran, further isolating the Islamic Republic,” he wrote. “Iran may think its enrichment plans will put fear into the hearts of Americans. In fact, it should give us hopes of a renaissance of American influence in the Middle East.”