And while political pundits, the media and elected officials in the West are currently criticizing China for not throwing its weight behind sanctions, it is China’s current silence on the issue that gives the October 1 talks the best chance of success. Without China’s commitment for or against sanctions, Iran is left guessing what its trading partner will do, and could acquiesce to U.S. demands to show blueprints of the new nuclear site and open its country to inspectors. But if the October 1 talks fail, expect China to agree to sanctions, but likely not the ones that will be proposed by the U.S., France and Britain. In December 2006 and March 2007, in response to Iran’s nuclear development, the U.N. Security Council unanimously agreed to sanctions. However, through China and Russia’s insistence, these sanctions were substantially watered down and merely limited the sale of nuclear equipment and technologies to Iran and froze the assets of key individuals involved in Iran’s nuclear development.