Jakarta should not throw its weight behind a third nuclear-related UN Security Council resolution against Iran because of promising reports by the UN energy agency, lawmakers and an analyst said Thursday.
The United Nations Security Council is scheduled to vote Friday on a U.S.-sponsored text, which all five permanent members have agreed on, that would slap new economic sanctions against Iran.
Djoko Susilo, a member of the House of Representatives' Commission I on foreign affairs, said the government should not support the text.
He said the government should instead push for more extensive monitoring between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
"The foreign minister briefed a number of House Commission I members late Wednesday and said supporting the resolution was not an option," the National Mandate Party (PAN) lawmaker said.
"It could mean Indonesia would instead abstain, but we lawmakers share the same view that voting against that resolution would be the maximum stance."
But the Foreign Ministry's director for international security and disarmament affairs, Desra Percaya, said the government "has yet to decide because the resolution draft has not yet been tabled for voting at the Council".
Indonesia voted in favor of the last resolution, wreaking havoc at home, with the House summoning the President.
Commission I chairman Golkar Party member Theo Sambuaga said Indonesia must vote against it if there was no proof Iran was deviating from its claims of peaceful aims.
"Sanctions resolve nothing," said Theo, who received Iran's Ambassador to Indonesia Behrooz Kamalvandi at his office Thursday.
If passed, the resolution would introduce financial monitoring on two banks and would call on countries "to exercise vigilance" in granting export credits, guarantees or insurance to Iran.
It would also authorize inspections of shipments to and from Iran suspected of carrying prohibited goods.
International relations expert at the University of Indonesia, Makmur Keliat, said abstaining would be the safest option.
"At one point, we should represent the interests of developing nations at the Council, including Iran's," he said.
"But ... Iran's been wayward in keeping up with international norms."
The IAEA issued last Friday its latest report on the topic, saying suspicions about past Iranian nuclear works had eased.
But it confirmed Iran was still enriching uranium despite previous resolutions demanding suspension of the program.
The U.S. and its allies said Iran was devising atomic weapons, while Iran maintains their program is designed to fuel nuclear reactors and generate electricity.
In New York, AP reported the planned vote might be delayed until next week to get four reluctant non-permanent members -- Indonesia, Libya, South Africa and Vietnam -- to back it.
The resolution needs only nine "yes" votes out of 15 for adoption. But diplomats said the permanent members wanted it to get unanimous approval.
