“To talk about sanctions at the moment will complicate the situation and might stand in the way of finding a diplomatic solution,” Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said at a conference in Paris.
After months of spurning the proposed deal, which would provide Iran with fuel for a medical reactor, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad showed a suddenly renewed interest in it this week just as France, a strong advocate of sanctions, assumed the rotating presidency of the U.N. Security Council. French Prime Minister François Fillon said Wednesday that he would ask the United Nations to adopt a resolution imposing “strong sanctions” against Iran because of its nuclear program.
U.S. officials had initially hoped they could push through a U.N. sanctions resolution this month or next, but China’s statement Thursday suggests that it may take months of haggling to achieve that goal. That, in turn, would upend the delicate diplomatic process needed to fulfill the Obama administration’s wish to see “crippling sanctions” in place early this year.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member