WORLD NEWS AUGUST 17, 2020 / 5:45 AM / UPDATED 3 HOURS AGO

China welcomes Putin's proposed summit on Iran

BEIJING (Reuters) - China welcomed on Monday to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposed summit of world leaders to avoid “confrontation” over a U.S. threat to trigger a return of all U.N. sanctions on Iran.

The United States lost a bid on Friday to extend a U.N. arms embargo on Iran.

Russia and China opposed extending the weapons ban, which is due to expire in October under a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers. Eleven members abstained, including France, Germany and Britain, while the United States and the Dominican Republic were the only two votes in favour.

Speaking in Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said the failure of the U.S. resolution “again showed that unilateralism has no popular support, and hegemonistic behaviour will not succeed”.

The United States needed to end its unilateral sanctions and adopt a rational attitude, returning to the “correct path” of respecting the Iran nuclear agreement and Security Council decisions, Zhao added.

-snip-