CHINA TOLD other world powers yesterday that discussing broader sanctions against Iran was counter-productive, striking a blow to a Western push to rein in Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi told a conference during a visit to France that Tehran’s negotiating position was evolving and he wanted to see more direct talks with Iran.
“To talk about sanctions at the moment will complicate the situation and might stand in the way of finding a diplomatic solution,” Mr Yang said.
France is among Western powers seeking to have the UN Security Council approve a fourth batch of sanctions against Iran by the end of March to prod Tehran into freezing uranium enrichment, which can have peaceful or military purposes.
Russia, like China, has extensive trade ties with Iran and both acted to weaken previous rounds of UN sanctions. But a Russian parliamentarian said yesterday that Moscow and Western powers had moved closer to agreement on the need for farther-reaching punitive measures.
The West fears Iran wants nuclear weapons capability from enrichment. Iran says it is only for electricity generation, but has restricted inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and stonewalled its investigations into intelligence indicating Tehran has researched atom bomb designs.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday that Iran was ready to send low-enriched uranium (LEU) abroad to be converted into special fuel to replenish the supply of a Tehran nuclear medicine reactor expected to run out of it later this year.
Previously, Tehran had insisted on simultaneous, phased swaps of small amounts of LEU for reactor fuel on its own soil, rather than parting with 70 per cent of the reserve in one go.
That would foil the goal of the UN-brokered plan to deplete Iran’s LEU reserve below the quantity required to set off an atomic bomb if it were refined to high purity. But diplomats said yesterday that Iran had not conveyed any change in its stance to the IAEA, despite Mr Ahmadinejad’s announcement and Tehran’s own envoy to the UN watchdog was seeking guidance from Tehran. – (Reuters)