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Israel says new Iran sanctions in the offing

An Israeli official claims the US has assured Tel Aviv that “firm sanctions” will be imposed on Tehran as soon as next month.

This comes as China has expressed strong resistance to a new round of sanctions against Iran.

According to a senior Israeli officials speaking on conditions of anonymity, US officials have told the Israelis that the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) would approve fresh sanctions against Iran by the end of March or the beginning of April — with or without China’s approval.

Israeli officials reportedly received the assurances in a strategic meeting with US officials on Thursday in Jerusalem Al-Quds.

“The sanctions will not be paralyzing and sweeping,” Haaretz quoted the Israeli official as saying on Friday.

“But they will be firm enough to harm the regime there. Also, a mechanism will be set up to enable additional UN resolutions to be passed swiftly if the Iranians don’t change their conduct,” he added.

As part of a last-ditch effort to obstruct Iran’s nuclear program, Israel has sought to send high-ranking delegations to a number of countries, including Brazil, Russia and China, to rally support for punitive measures against the Tehran government.

In Russia, Israeli efforts have achieved little with Kremlin officials declaring that it is much too soon to consider stringent measures against Iran.

This, however, has not stopped Tel Aviv’s effort to call for international sanctions against Iran. On the contrary, it has prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to go as far as demanding that the UN Security Council be sidestepped if it cannot agree to more sanctions against Tehran.

“We must prohibit Iranian oil exports and imports to Iran of refined oil products. No other sanctions will be effective,” Netanyahu said in Al-Quds at a meeting of delegates from the Jewish Agency, an organization that encourages Jewish immigration to Israel.

Israel’s vocal opposition to Iran’s enrichment activity, which is described as peaceful by the Tehran government, comes in light of reports that Tel Aviv houses an arsenal of over 200 nuclear warheads.

This has raised serious questions particularly among Middle Eastern nations as to why Israel, which houses a nuclear arsenal, refuses to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and has been involved in many wars with regional states, should not arouse concerns among those countries which try to keep Iran’s nuclear energy program in the limelight.

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