China Blocks Decision on Iran Sanctions

Last Saturday, representatives from the U.S., Russia, China, France, Germany, and Britain (known as P5+1) discussed new sanctions against Iran. The three-hour meeting, held at the EU offices in New York, ended in failure after China sent only a junior diplomat to the talks.

“It was inconclusive in the sense that we didn’t make any decisions right away,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said after the meeting, where the China representatives said they were ready to agree to start talks on possible sanctions, Times Online reported.

The six-power group agreed that Iran had not followed the commitments specified in the meeting in Geneva on Oct. 1, showing a lack of cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency and refusing further meetings about nuclear issues.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Sunday that the powers will only achieve results if they recognize “Iran’s nuclear rights,” Reuters reported.

In the last year, the U.S. House of Representatives approved new sanctions against the Tehran regime. The bill allows Barack Obama to ban permission to do business in U.S. for the companies, which would supply refined oil to Iran.

Iran refuses to give up its nuclear plans, which the Western countries consider a security threat. The United States is also concerned about the Iran’s secret uranium enrichment facility. Tehran’s regime insists that it enriches uranium for use in nuclear power plants.

The U.N. has imposed three rounds of sanctions on Iran in the past years. It has also offered to let Iran swap enriched uranium for fuel that could be used in the country’s research reactor, but Iranian leaders declined the proposal.