China blocking Iran sanctions

By JTA Staff · October 17, 2008

China is blocking talks on how to further isolate Iran, according to reports.

An Associated Press report Thursday cited U.S. officials as saying that China is blocking a conference call among the “P5 plus 1” group of major powers who are leading efforts to get Iran to stand down from its suspected nuclear weapons program.

The Bush administration had hoped to convene such a meeting last month in New York during the opening of the U.N. General Assembly, but at that time Russia resisted – in part because it was still angry at U.S. backing for Georgia during the Caucasus miniwar over the summer.

Now, AP quoted U.S. officials as saying, China is angry at the United States over its sale of arms to Taiwan.

The “P5 plus 1” – comprised of the United States, Russia, France, Britain and China, all veto-wielding permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, as well as Germany – has pushed through three sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions on Iran over the last year. The United States, Britain, France and Germany now want to tighten the sanctions.