(Reuters, 10 March 2009) - The outlook for imposing tough new U.N. sanctions on Iran is increasingly grim, as Russia and China work to slow down a U.S. and European drive for swift action, Israel's U.N. envoy said on Tuesday.
The United States, Britain, France and Germany have agreed on a watered-down proposal for a fourth round of U.N. sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program and given it to Russia and China for comments. Russia's initial reaction has been negative and China has not reacted, Western diplomats say. "It now seems that Russia and China are still dragging their legs and they are still looking to the diplomatic track," Israel's U.N. Ambassador Gabriela Shalev told reporters at U.N. headquarters. "We are more than suspicious because these diplomatic overtures took over the last years and the Iranians are mocking them," she said.
