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By Amira El-Fekki
Middle East News Reporter
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Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said that China is the "biggest rival" to U.S. policies and should lay the groundwork for confronting American and Western "unilateralism," according to the semi-official Mehr News Agency.
Pezeshkian met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Tuesday, as Tehran rallies support from China and other U.S. rivals, such as Russia, to counteract potential new sanctions amid increasing Western pressure on its nuclear program.
Why It Matters
While China and Russia cannot stop the "snapback mechanism" that France, the U.K. and Britain (the E3) have triggered, they could undermine its impact. According to Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf, Iran's oil sales and foreign trade have not been halted by U.S. sanctions, Iranian media reported.
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What To Know
China said it valued Iran's repeated pledge not to pursue nuclear weapons and respected Tehran's right to peaceful atomic energy, according to state media CCTV.
Hours after France, Germany, and the U.K. triggered a mechanism to reimpose sanctions on Tehran, Russia and China proposed a U.N. Security Council resolution to extend the 2015 Iran nuclear deal's timeline, the U.N. reported on Sunday.
China, Russia and Iran have sent a joint letter after meeting in Tianjin on Sunday, during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, in which they expressed opposition to the snapback sanctions and called for continued diplomatic engagement.
The E3 have offered to extend the snapback mechanism for a limited time to give a chance for negotiations to pave the way for a new agreement. If Iran agrees, the U.N. Security Council would have to adopt a new resolution, according to Reuters.
What People Are Saying
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian told CCTV Tuesday, as quoted by Mehr News Agency: "The U.S. and those in power want to implement their policy in the region through the exercise of force and sanctions. Through all the means and tools they know how to use, they will not allow countries to get away from the framework they have created.
"If we want to get out of this framework, we must put into practice what we wrote in the previous and future meetings, that we will change our behavior in the face of unilateralism. This means interaction, trade, and not listening to their words about sanctions."
China's state media CCTV: "Xi Jinping stressed that force is not the right way to resolve differences, and communication and dialogue are the right way to achieve lasting peace. China attaches great importance to Iran's repeated reaffirmation of its commitment not to seek the development of nuclear weapons, [and] respects Iran's right to peaceful uses of nuclear energy."
Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia's permanent representative to the United Nations said on Sunday: "So once again, we believe that the move by E3 cannot and should not entail any legal or procedural effect. It's a mere escalatory step. It's something that is absolutely showing that the Western countries do not know what diplomacy is about. They don't care about diplomacy. They care only about blackmail and threats and coercion of independent countries."
What Happens Next
If no new resolution is adopted by the Security Council within a 30-day grace period since the "snapback" was invoked, all previous U.N. sanctions lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal will automatically be reinstated.
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