PARIS (Reuters) - China told other world powers on Thursday 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," Yang said.
PARIS (Reuters) - China told other world powers on Thursday 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," Yang said.
AFP- French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said on Wednesday he would ask the United Nations to adopt a new resolution against Iran over its nuclear programme, which would include "strong sanctions". "The Iranian regime has not taken our offers of dialogue ... the time has therefore come to react," he said. "We will seek in the United Nations the adoption of a new resolution comprising strong sanctions and the European Union will also equally assume its responsibilites," he added. Iran is already under three sets of sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council for its refusal to stop enriching uranium, a process that can produce fuel for nuclear reactors but also fissile material for an atomic bomb.
Iran needs electrical power to industrialize and they are, willy-nilly, going to develop sources of power generation. What the West should be doing is encouraging them to develop sustainable wind and solar power generating infrastructures rather than pouring money down the rat-hole of nuclear power.
The question of Iranian nuclear weapons is beside the point. IF they want 'em and are willing to direct the resources to getting 'em ... they'll get 'em - nuclear power stations or not.
