UNITED NATIONS, March 17 (Xinhua) -- The chairman of the UN Security Council committee monitoring sanctions imposed against Iran Johan Verbeke said Monday that less than half of UN member states have reported on their implementation of these measures.
In an open council meeting, Belgian Ambassador Johan Verbeke, the panel's chairperson, said it has received two documents from member states -- one each under resolutions 1737 and 1747 ¨C since Dec. 19 last year.
This brings "the total number of reports under resolution 1737 to 88 and the total number of reports under resolution 1747 to 72," he noted.
Since December 2006, the Security Council has passed three resolutions slapping sanctions against Iran.
The first one, resolution 1737, banned trade with Iran in all items, materials, equipment, goods and technology which could contribute to the country's enrichment-related, reprocessing or heavy water-related activities, or to the development of nuclear-weapon delivery systems.
Resolution 1747 from last March further tightened the sanctions by imposing a ban on arms sales and expanding the freeze on Iran's assets.
Earlier this month, the council imposed further sanctions against Iran, including the inspection of cargo suspected of carrying prohibited goods, the tighter monitoring of financial institutions and the extension of travel bans and asset freezes, over its nuclear program.
