Russia, China balk at financial bans on Iran

[Nutmegger]

By Evelyn Leopold

UNITED NATIONS, March 9 (Reuters) - China and Russia balked on Friday at financial sanctions against Iranian during negotiations among six powers on a new U.N. Security Council resolution that would penalize Iran for its nuclear program.

At issue are proposals, in a March 3 working paper obtained by Reuters earlier, to freeze the assets of a list of people, companies and groups such as Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps and the state-owned Bank Sepah.

They also call for a ban on new commitments for grants, loans and credits to Iran, which both Russia and China oppose.


China's "main difficulty is with the financial and the trade sanctions against Iran because we feel that we are not punishing the Iranian people. We should punish the Iranians for their activities in the nuclear field," China's U.N. ambassador, Wang Guangya, said after Friday's talks..

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[Solo_in_MD]

1. Iraq, Iran, and Syria have been cash cows to the Russians, Chinese and French

for both civilian and military purchases. They have no interest in turning off the spigot