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China, Britain diverge on Iran nuclear sanctions

Thu Sep 24, 2009 By Ben Blanchard and Claudia Parsons

BEIJING/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – China dampened expectations of further sanctions on Iran on Thursday, telling other major powers that more pressure would not persuade Tehran to halt its nuclear program.

In contrast, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the U.N. Security Council the world should consider “far tougher sanctions” if Iran continues to seek a nuclear weapon.

Both countries signed a letter on Wednesday in which the five permanent members of the Security Council and Germany told Iran to prepare a “serious response” by October 1 to demands that it halt its nuclear program, or face the consequences.

Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States are the permanent members of the 15-nation Security Council.

“As evidence of its breach of international agreements grows, we must now consider far tougher sanctions together,” Brown told a council meeting on nuclear proliferation chaired by U.S. President Barack Obama.

At the end of the two-hour session, council members unanimously approved a resolution calling for an end to the proliferation of atomic weapons but did not name Iran or North Korea, which is also in a standoff over its nuclear program.

The U.S.-drafted resolution called for further efforts to achieve “a world without nuclear weapons” and all urged countries to sign the 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. http://www.reuters.com/article/newsMaps/idUSTRE58N6MW20090924

September 25, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, politics | antinuclear, nuclear