 Hitting Iran now with sanctions over its nuclear work could drive it "away from the civilized world," a Kremlin official said on Tuesday, in a hint of strong Russian opposition to punitive steps backed by Washington.
| Some of us would say it's already there. |
China said earlier it still wanted major world powers to negotiate with Iran even after it defied a U.N. Security Council deadline of August 31 to stop enriching uranium. The Chinese and Russian stances underlined the obstacles to a U.S.-led push to consider sanctions against Iran this month in the Council, where Beijing and Moscow wield vetoes.
| We had no doubt it would work out this way. |
Washington's EU allies, also hesitant about sanctions, were looking to talks this week to explore hints by Iran that it could negotiate over the extent of its nuclear fuel program, which the West fears is a disguised bid to build atom bombs.
| And we knew the EU would be weak as water, too. We've spent all this time letting things play out to demonstrate that there's nothing to be gained by continuous jaw-jaw. |
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana was tentatively expected to meet Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani in Vienna on Wednesday. But diplomats said the day and venue for the talks could still change and nothing had been finalized by late on Tuesday. |