My Fatwa: It’s Late Saturday Night, China Playing Hard to Get, Russia Needs a Date But……....
“US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has paid a visit to Saudi Arabia, seeking to win the support of the United States' closest ally in the Persian Gulf on tough sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. Gates met with King Abdullah and the Saudi crown prince as part of the US administration's diplomatic push for new United Nations Security Council (UNSC) sanctions against Iran. "We are certainly hopeful that the Saudis will use whatever influence they have which is considerable in this region and throughout the world to try and help us in our efforts at the UN so we can get meaningful sanctions enacted against Iran," US press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters on Wednesday.……” Press TV (Iran)
The Iranians seem confident that Brazil (a current Security Council member) will vote against new sanctions. Turkey and Lebanon certainly will vote against. They are right in that assessment, but they think the US is trying to get the Saudis to press China to agree to new sanctions. Saudis have the petroleum leverage, as does Iran, and their foreign minister has been to China recently. But China is highly unlikely to be pressured by that, at least partly because then everyone will know that China has been pressured by Saudi oil.
My fatwa today is that China will not support any serious tightening of sanctions, which means they will veto if they have to. As for Russia: Russia has more weak points than China, It maybe perhaps likely possibly can make a deal, with limits. But Russia is also a neighbor of Iran.
Cheers
mhg
Mon Email
Comments