China to agree on Iran sanctions: Biden

The United States says it has won China’s support to impose a new round of sanctions against Iran over the country’s nuclear energy program.

Despite Beijing’s repeated rejection of such punitive measures against Tehran, US Vice President Joe Biden made the claim during a talk show on ABC television on Thursday. “China will agree to sanctions,” Biden told ABC’s “The View.”

Reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have repeatedly rejected any deviation in the course of Iran’s nuclear program, which Tehran maintains is aimed at meeting its increasing energy demand at home.

This, however, has not prevented the UN Security Council from imposing three rounds of sanctions against Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) signatory Iran.

Tehran has been steadfast in pursuing its nuclear goals and repeatedly says the US-led sanctions have only accelerated development in its industrial sector.

“Most analysts realize that sanctions in reality are going be counterproductive,” William Morris from the London-based The Next Century Foundation told Press TV on Friday.

He said the move will “put Iran back against the wall and Iran will sort of retreat into a ‘fortress Iran’ position if you like. It will look to itself rather than to its neighbors in the world…in the wider world community.”

“So it’s not an effective way forward,” Morris concluded.

The United States and its European allies have been escalating their pressure on Iran to halt its nuclear activity over what they describe as an effort by Tehran to produce nuclear weapons.

Rejecting the allegations, Tehran accuses Washington of having implicitly threatened the country with a nuclear attack and has vowed no to give in to Western intimidation tactics.