The United States called Wednesday for a united front with China against Iran’s nuclear program as it debates whether to slap sanctions on the Asian power over oil purchases from the Islamic republic.
The United States has exempted 18 nations but not China from tough sanctions that come into effect on June 28 on countries that buy oil from Iran, which Israel and some Western officials accuse of building a nuclear weapon.
Kurt Campbell, the top State Department official on East Asia, said that the United States and China were “right in the middle” of talks about Iran and did not answer a question on whether Beijing would receive an exemption. “We have underscored how important it is to have a solid, unified international consensus about how to deal with the challenges posed by Iran’s nuclear program,” Campbell said at the Center for a New American Security, a Washington think-tank.
