China rejected on Thursday a planned push by the United States to extend a United Nations arms embargo on Iran and, if that fails, Washington's assertion that it could trigger a return of all sanctions on Tehran at the U.N. Security Council.
U.S. special envoy for Iran, Brian Hook, publicly confirmed the U.S. strategy on Wednesday, two weeks after a U.S. official, speaking on condition anonymity, said the United States had told Britain, France, and Germany of its plan.
China's mission to the United Nations in New York said that by quitting the Iran nuclear deal in 2018, Washington had "failed to meet its obligations" under a 2015 Security Council resolution that enshrined the agreement.
China's U.N. mission posted on Twitter that the United States "has no right to extend an arms embargo on Iran, let alone to trigger snapback. Maintaining JCPOA is the only right way of moving forward."