The big six agree on strengthening Iran sanctions

Or so says the headline. The story looks rosy too.

The U.N. Security Council’s permanent members and Germany agreed Tuesday on a new draft resolution on sanctions against Iran, strengthening existing measures over the country’s refusal to suspend its nuclear program, officials said.

Germany’s foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said Germany, France and Great Britain would submit the draft to the Security Council, for discussion in coming weeks.

“We agreed together today on the contents of such a resolution,” he said after meeting his counterparts from the U.S., France, Britain, Russia and China.

Officials said that all six in attendance at the two-hour meeting would vote for the resolution.

A European diplomat and a U.S. official, both speaking of condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the resolution would expand existing sanctions. But the European diplomat said it would not feature new economic sanctions.

Advertisement

Hey, great, the big powers agree! Except that behind the scenes there’s likely to be the usual back and forth and watering down so that neither Russia nor China actually has to give up a single bit of their trade with Iran. That “no new sanctions” and how one defines that is sure to become a sticking point. And it won’t be the only one.

There will be last minute objections, consultations and furrowed brows until finally at some point the UNSC+1 draft something that they can really all support because it won’t actually do very much.

So I doubt Mahmoud is losing any sleep.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Trending on HotAir Videos

Advertisement
David Strom 12:00 PM | April 21, 2025
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement