U.S. President Barack Obama vowed to help keep fuel flowing to China if Iran cuts off supplies in retaliation for joining a drive for UN sanctions, The New York times reported Tuesday.
U.S. President Barack Obama vowed to help keep fuel flowing to China if
Iran cuts off supplies in retaliation for joining a drive for UN sanctions, The
New York times reported Tuesday.
The pledge came in Monday talks between Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao
as the
U.S.
leader sought to win Chinese support for the gathering drive to impose new UN
sanctions on
Tehran
, the
report said.
China
, a
veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council, has been reluctant to commit
to new sanctions, partly because it is a major trading partner with the Islamic
Republic which is a key supplier of oil to
Beijing
.
Obama assured Hu that he was "sensitive to
China
's
energy needs," the Times said, adding that the
U.S.
administration had already sounded out other oil producers to help reassure
Beijing
that
there would be no drop in supply.
White House adviser on Iran Dennis Ross travelled to Saudia Arabia last year to
seek a pledge that it would step in to help
China
if
needed, the paper said.
Iran
was
the third-largest crude oil supplier to
China
last
year after
Saudi Arabia
and
Angola
, with
shipments reaching 23.15 million tons.
"We'll look for ways to make sure that if there are sanctions they won't
be negatively affected," a senior White House official told the Times.
The paper also reported that the
U.S.
president had laid out details of a proposed Security Council sanctions package
to Hu -- the fourth that would be imposed on the Islamic Republic over its
suspect enrichment program.
The measures would include denying
Iran
access to international credit, choking off foreign investment in its energy
sector and slapping restrictions on companies owned by the Islamic
Revolutionary Guards, the paper said.
"Until two weeks ago the Chinese would not discuss a sanctions resolution
at all," the official said.
The White House emerged from Monday's 90-minute talks, held on the sidelines of
a nuclear summit here, saying the Chinese delegation had agreed to work with
them on a securing new UN sanctions against Iran.
But
China
Tuesday reaffirmed its position that sanctions weren't the answer to the
stand-off.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said
China
backs
a "dual-track strategy" -- continued dialogue with
Tehran
while
considering the possibility of sanctions if that fails to halt sensitive
nuclear work.
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