US and allies clash over Iran nuclear program with Russia and China

On Thursday, the U.S. and its allies faced off against Russia and China over Iran's intentions to develop nuclear weapons. Washington was attempting to justify at the United Nations the war that it started two weeks ago on Iran.

Russia and China tried to block the discussion of a committee that would oversee and enforce U.N. Sanctions against Iran at a meeting this month of the 15 member U.N. Security Council. The motion was overruled by a vote of 11-2, with two abstentions.

Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, accused Moscow and Beijing that they were trying to?protect Tehran by blocking work of the 1737 Committee.

Waltz stated that "all member states of the United Nations must implement an arms embargo, ban the transfer of missile technology and freeze relevant financial assets."

He said that the U.N. provisions that will be re-imposed were not arbitrarily chosen, but rather, they were narrowly focused to deal with the threat posed to Iran by its nuclear, missile, and conventional weapons programs, as well as Iran's continued support for terrorism.

Waltz claimed that China and Russia didn't want a sanctions committee that worked "because they wanted to protect their partner Iran and continue to maintain defense co-operation that is now again prohibited."

Waltz pointed out that the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency reiterated last week that Iran is the only country in the world that has not produced nuclear weapons but that has produced and accumulated up to 60% enriched uranium. The IAEA refused to gain access to the stockpile.

Vasily Nebenzya, the Russian ambassador to the U.N., charged that U.S. officials and their allies "whipped up hysteria around supposed plans Iran had for a nuclear bomb" which were never confirmed by IAEA reports.

He said that the move was made to launch yet another military campaign against Tehran, and to exacerbate the situation throughout the Middle East.

Fu Cong called Washington the "instigator of the Iranian nuclear crisis" and claimed that it "used blatant force against Iran in the negotiation process which rendered diplomatic efforts futile."

Donald Trump has used Iran's nuke program to justify the war against Iran. He claimed this'month that Iran could have a nuclear weapon in two weeks if the U.S. had not attacked three nuclear sites in June. Sources?have stated that U.S. intelligence assessments do not support his claim.

Britain and France informed the Security Council of their decision to reimpose sanctions on Iran due to Tehran's refusal in addressing concerns over its nuclear program. France stated that the IAEA could no longer guarantee the peaceful nature the program, and Tehran's stockpile of nuclear weapons was enough to make 10 nuclear devices. (Reporting and editing by Don Durfee, Mark Porter, and David Brunnstrom)

(source: Reuters)