US to press China, UAE, others on Iran sanctions

WASHINGTON — The United States announced Thursday that top officials will fan out starting next week to China, the United Arab Emirates, and other key countries in support of tighter sanctions against Iran."China is of concern to us in this regard," Robert Einhorn, the US State Department's special adviser for nonproliferation and arms control, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.Einhorn said he and Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes Daniel Glaser would visit China at the "end of August" as part of a push to "raise this at the highest levels.""We need for them to enforce the Security Council resolutions conscientiously and we also need for them not to 'backfill' when responsible countries have distanced themselves from Iran," he said.Glaser and Einhorn were first bound for Japan and South Korea next week as part of a push by Washington to get its partners in Asia, the Middle East and South America to tighten the vise on Iran over its suspect nuclear program.A top US Treasury official in charge of sanctions, Stuart Levey, will head to the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, and Bahrain next month, while another will travel to Brazil and Ecuador, according to the department.A top international affairs and trade official at the US Government Accountability Office, the US Congress's investigative arm, said China was "aggressive" in investing in Iran's energy sector despite the sanctions.The official, Joseph Christoff, told the same hearing that the United States had to "turn our attention" to China because international and unilateral sanctions were "not changing their behavior.""The Chinese will argue that they have important security needs" related to getting energy for their booming economy, said Einhorn. "In our view they are overachieving in terms of their energy security needs.""We think they have to rebalance their priorities," said Einhorn, who underlined that China "is going to be the focus of very high-level attention over the next

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