China says curbs will not help Iran dispute

BEIJING—Sanctions are not the way to resolve the deepening international confrontation over Iran’s nuclear ambitions, China said on Tuesday, while also urging Tehran to be more compromising.
The comments came as Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi went to Tehran for talks on the dispute, and while a senior U.S. Treasury official was in Beijing to discuss financial penalties on Iran.
“We urge Iran to respond positively to international calls and adopt a flexible stance. We hope that through dialogue and consultation we can promote progress towards resolution,” ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told a regular news conference. “We believe that sanctions, especially unilateral sanctions, are of no help.”
Washington and its allies accuse Iran of seeking to develop an atomic weapon capability but Tehran says its nuclear program is purely for the civilian purpose of generating electricity. Liu would not discuss details of Yang’s visit and his words echoed calls for compromise that China has regularly offered. But his comments underscored how, even as Western powers look to tighten economic pressure on Tehran, China hopes for a negotiated settlement of the nuclear dispute.
With a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council, China holds the power to pass or veto possible new sanctions on Iran.
Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Russia and China are expected to meet on November 19 to assess reports on Iran from European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and International Atomic Energy Agency head Mohamed ElBaradei. The standoff between Iran and the West poses tough choices for Beijing, wary of sanctions and looking to Iran for more oil yet also reluctant to open rifts with the United States.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Monday he would push to curb energy and financial investment in Iran unless Tehran resolves nuclear concerns.
Washington has imposed a range of unilateral sanctions on Tehran. Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey has been visiting China, whose companies have previously been targeted by Washington for selling arms and sensitive technology to Iran.
After meeting senior Chinese financial officials and diplomats, Levey told reporters that his talks covered the general risks of dealing with Iranian banks and businesses that Washington has targeted. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday threatened to expose “traitors” who were pressuring his government over its atomic ambitions in the face of mounting calls on Iran to stop controversial nuclear work.
“If the internal elements do not stop pressures over the nuclear issue they will be exposed to the Iranian people,” the state news agency IRNA quoted Ahmadinejad as saying at a Tehran university.—Agencies
“These are traitors and, in accordance with the vows we have taken to the nation, we will not back down and be onlookers,” he told students at the Elm-o-Sanat (Science and Industry) university.
Moderates inside Iran have attacked Ahmadinejad for his handling of Iran’s nuclear programme, with former presidents Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami warning against the “serious threats” facing the country.
According to the Fars news agency, Ahmadinejad said his government was under pressure from people who cited “the possibility of an attack and war” on Iran to stop its nuclear programme which the West suspects is cover for a weapons drive.
Without naming any individuals, Ahmadinejad said these people “met with foreigners every week and told the enemies why they were backing down and postponing (UN) resolutions.”