Major Nations Agree to Iran Sanctions

Germany has joined the five permanent member states of the U.N. Security Council—the U.S., the U.K., France, Russia, and China—in agreeing to a new round of sanctions against Iran, a day after the Islamic Republic committed to ship half of its nuclear fuel to neighboring Turkey in an attempt to quell American apprehensions about its burgeoning nuclear-weapons program. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised Tuesday’s development: “We have reached agreement on a strong draft with the cooperation of both Russia and China... I think this announcement is as convincing an answer to the efforts undertaken in Tehran over the last few days as any we could provide." This fourth round of sanctions would further pressure Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions.