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Iran Sanctions Draft Finalized

Will China approve?

by
Marc Tracy
May 18, 2010
President Ahmadinejad and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday.(Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images)
President Ahmadinejad and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday.(Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images)

The nuclear swap deal that Turkey and Brazil extracted out of Iran seems good on its face, but the thinking is that, by taking the pressure off, it is actually likely to lessen the chance of meaningful sanctions against the Islamic republic.

Well, we’re about to find out if that’s true. The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council have agreed on a draft sanctions resolution, which they are now circulating.

For the record, Russia, which is also involved in the nuclear material swap deal, has long been surprisingly onboard with the prospect of further sanctions. It is China that has been the holdout, and it is the country to watch.

Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.