* Iran shipments may have violated U.N. sanctions
* Seized items may have been for nuclear program - envoys
* Moves by UAE, Bahrain show Iran is more isolated - envoys
* Bahrain seized material usable in advanced centrifuges
UNITED NATIONS, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Bahrain and the United
Arab Emirates have confiscated a number of items Iran may have
sought for its nuclear program, a development that diplomats
said showed how enforcement of U.N . sanctions ag ainst Tehran is
steadily improving.
One of the items heading to Iran but confiscated by Bahrain
was carbon fiber, the diplomats told Reuters, a dual-use
material U.N. experts have said would be crucial if Iran was to
develop more advanced nuclear enrichment centrifuge technology.
Bahrain's and UAE's confidential reports to the U.N.
Security Council's Iran sanctions committee are politically
significant, envoys said on condition of anonymity, since they
highlight how more and more states are enforcing the sanctions
and making it increasingly difficult for Tehran to flout them.
"The fact that these two countries are now taking steps to
enforce the sanctions and reporting those steps to the U.N. is
remarkable by itself," a senior Security Council diplomat told
Reuters. "It shows that the U.N. sanctions regime can work. UAE
has been one of Iran's enablers. Iran's becoming more isolated."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday
that Tehran was close to being able to build a nuclear bomb, and
U.S. President Barack Obama is under pressure ahead of
November's election from political opponents who argue that
sanctions are not doing enough to stop Iran building a bomb.
The emirate Dubai has long been one of Iran's main transit
hubs because of its busy port and position as a key financial
center. Th e Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
think-tank wrote in July 2011 th at Dubai was "a top source of
Iranian imports and a key transshipment point for goods - legal
and illegal - destined for the Islamic Republic."
But pressure from the United States and other Western powers
to crack down on Iranian sanctions violations has borne some
fruit in the form of redoubled efforts to enforce the sanctions
and report to the sanctions committee, Western envoys say.
The Security Council imposed four rounds of U.N. sanctions
on Tehran between 2006 and 2010 to punish it for defying
Security Council demands that it suspend uranium enrichment and
other sensitive nuclear activities.
Tehran rejects charges it is developing the capability to
produce atomic weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is
intended solely for the peaceful production of electricity.
UAE officials insist that the country's policy has always
been to fully abide by U.N. regulations and cooperate with the
sanctions committee. A UAE official who declined to be
identified played down the reports to the Iran committee.
"All incidents were reported at the time when they happened,
and there has been no incident in more than a year," the
official told Reuters. He did not comment further.
Bahrain's mission to the United Nations in New York did not
reply to a request for comment, and officials in Bahrain were
not immediately available to comment.
CARBON FIBER
Bahrain has become increasingly annoyed with what it says
are attempts by Iran to undermine its government. The Sunni-led
island, along with fellow Gulf Arab countries, have accused
Shi 'ite-led Ira n of bei ng behind the unrest in the region.
Tehran denies fomenting problems in Bahrain.
U.N. diplomats say that some countries could also do more to
enforce the sanctions. They say it is important for China,
Russia, India, Turkey and others to counter Iranian attempts to
use their territory to circumvent international sanctions.
The UAE reported to the council's Iran sanctions committee
that it had made some 15 interceptions of suspicious items bound
for Iran over the last three years, diplomats said.
"Some of those items have been cleared as OK but some remain
under investigation," a U.N. diplomatic source told Reuters.
Diplomats said that reports from the UAE, Bahrain and other
countries would likely be mentioned in a briefing later this
week for the 15-nation council by Colombia's U.N. envoy Nestor
Osorio, who chairs the Iran sanctions committee.
Osorio's report was expected to leave out the names of the
countries that submitted reports to the committee in keeping
with council tradition on such delicate matters, envoys said.
In some cases, the UAE returned seized items to the original
shipping countries, diplomats said. Among the firms involved in
the procurement efforts the UAE uncovered was Kalaye Electric
Co. in Tehran, the former center of Iran's enrichment centrifuge
research and development program, envoys said.
There were no details available on the items confiscated by
UAE authorities, but the three items Bahrain intercepted
included carbon fiber, a dual-use material that the U.N. expert
panel identified in a May 2012 report as key for the further
development of Iran's uranium enrichment centrifuge program.
It remains unclear if Iran wanted the carbon fiber for its
nuclear program, diplomats said.
The last round of U.N. sanctions adopted in June 2010
established the panel of experts to monitor compliance with the
U.N. measures and gave countries the authority to inspect all
cargo going to and from Iran and seize any banned items.
The United States and European Union have also imposed their
own much more draconian sanctions.
(Additional reporting by Andrew Torchia in Dubai; Editing by
Claudia Parsons)