China balks at proposed financial bans on Iran

UNITED NATIONS: China, backed by Russia, balked on Friday at financial sanctions against Iran during talks among six powers on a new UN Security Council resolution that would penalise Tehran for its nuclear programme.

At issue are proposals to expand a list of people, firms and groups whose assets would be frozen or trade with whom would be restricted, such as Iran's Revolutionary Guards and the state-owned Bank Sepah.   

They also call for a ban on new commitments for grants, loans and credits to Iran, which both Russia and China had opposed.

China's "main difficulty is with the financial and the trade sanctions against Iran because we feel that we are not punishing the Iranian people. We should punish the Iranians for their activities in the nuclear field," China's UN Ambassador Wang Guangya said after Friday's talks. 

"I don't think we will be ready by next week," Wang said, although Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said there was some hope of a text next week.   

"We went through the whole list of elements. There are some on which we are quite close, there are some on which there is some serious concerns and differences," Churkin said.

Other envoys close to the negotiations said Western nations had offered several ways to accommodate China and others on the financial sanctions but the draft was not ready. 

The new resolution is a follow-up to one adopted by the Security Council on December 23 that imposed trade sanctions on sensitive nuclear materials and technology and froze assets of key Iranians individuals, groups and businesses. That measure demands Iran suspend uranium enrichment, which can provide fuel for power plants or for bombs, but Tehran refused to comply.   

Ambassadors from the five permanent council members -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- as well as Germany met on Friday for the fourth time this week.    China and Russia usually back each other, but Wang said Moscow had difficulties with sanctions against bodies and businesses controlled by Iran''s Revolutionary Guard "because they feel it''s an institution in Iran and you don''t have to penalize an institution."   

The US negotiator, Ambassador Alejandro Wolff, said, "I think the financial issue is probably the main point of concern."   

Russia and China also have not signed on to a mandatory travel ban on Iranian officials connected with the nuclear programme.