Russia, China, object to tough sanctions on Iran

UNITED NATIONS: Russia and China have raised objections to nearly every Western proposal for new U.N. sanctions against Iran over its nuclear ambitions except a ban on arms exports, according to a working paper.

The document, seen by Reuters on Thursday, shows some Russian and Chinese reservations about other proposals for a U.N. Security Council resolution.

These include a mandatory travel ban, financial and trade restrictions and an expanded list of Iranian officials and firms whose assets would be frozen, such as those controlled by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and Iran’s state-owned Bank Sepah, already under U.S. sanctions.

In an effort to break the logjam, senior foreign policy officials from the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China held another telephone conference on Thursday, followed by a meeting of U.N. ambassadors late in the day.

“We were just taking stock on where we are,” said Alejandro Wolff, a U.S. ambassador, after the meeting. “There have been lots of conversations between capitals, so we wanted to compare notes, make sure everyone’s on the same page.”

The new resolution is a follow-up to one adopted by the Security Council on Dec. 23 that imposed trade sanctions on sensitive nuclear materials and technology and froze assets of key Iranians individuals, groups and businesses.

Meanwhile Iran has asked the International Monetary Fund to determine whether U.S. sanctions against Bank Saderat, Iran’s second-largest state-owned bank which Washington has accused of terror financing, violated IMF rules on foreign exchange restrictions.

IMF staff and Iranian finance officials discussed the effects of the U.S. action against Saderat during annual economic consultations in November, according to IMF documents published on Thursday that detail the talks.

During the talks, Iranian authorities expressed concern that since the United States cut off Saderat, the bank had been unable to issue letters of credit in dollars, which was affecting deposits.

The officials also complained that several correspondent banks in Europe and Asia with activities in the United States had cut off Saderat from operating in other currencies.

New York, Friday, Reuters