White House ‘Confident’ of New Iran Sanctions

Russia: Punishing Iran Not a Good Idea

Monday’s G-8 meeting is expected to focus on the eternal US push for additional sanctions against Iran, but to hear the Obama Administration talk the battle for support has already been won.

Top Obama adviser David Axelrod declared that the world had “united” against Iran while fellow adviser Valerie Jarret said there was a “strong world coalition” that would force Iran to back down.

No one appears to have told the Russian and Chinese government, however. President Dmitry Medvedev yesterday reiterated that sanctions were not “optimal” and that punitive measures were “not a good idea” against Iran. He didn’t rule out voting in favor of minor sanctions, but his comments were largely in keeping with Russia’s repeated comments. China has repeatedly signaled its opposition as well.

The latest push for sanctions seems to be built around spy agency’s claims that Iran is planning more enrichment sites, a suspicion which seems to have been built in no small part on the fact that Iran has repeatedly said it is planning more enrichment sites. But though its attempts to spread its civilian enrichment program around so as to make it more difficult to attack may be irksome to the West, it is unlikely to provoke China or Russia to suddenly endorse more sanctions against them.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.