TURKISH PARLIAMENT TO DEBATE ANKARA-YEREVAN PROTOCOL ON OCT. 10-11: PM
Journal of Turkish Weekly
Thursday, 24 September 2009
China believes sanctions on Iran "are not the way out," Bloomberg
quoted a government spokeswoman as saying in Beijing on Thursday.
"At present, it is not conducive to diplomatic efforts," Foreign
Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters. The joint statement
at the UN that China signed "emphasized the resolution of the issue
through dialogue and negotiation and getting the Iranian nuclear
issue back to the track of dialogue."
The five permanent members of the UN Security Council – China,
Russia, the UK, France and the US – and Germany will meet with Iranian
representatives on October 1 for the first time in more than a year
in an attempt to reduce tensions over Teheran’s refusal to curb
nuclear activities.
Iran says it wants to use enrichment technology to create
nuclear fuel, but there are international fears that it seeks to
develop it to reconfigure its program and make the fissile core of
warheads. RELATEDIran to ask for nuclear fuel at talksUN to give boost
to nuclear free worldRussia links Iran sanctions to US missile change
Ahead of the negotiations, the foreign ministers of the six nations
met Wednesday on the sidelines of the General Assembly to discuss
how to get Iran to stop uranium enrichment.
Russian news agencies cited an official in the Russian delegation as
saying Moscow does not rule out new sanctions against Iran over its
nuclear program.
Also Wednesday, with a diplomatic wink and nod, Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev opened the door to backing potential sanctions against
Iran as a reward to President Barack Obama’s decision to scale back
a US missile shield in Eastern Europe.
While US and Russian officials denied a flat-out quid pro quo, Medvedev
told the UN General Assembly that Obama’s pivot on a missile defense
plan long loathed by Moscow "deserves a positive response." Obama
himself has said his missile decision may have spurred Russian good
will as a "
"We believe we need to help Iran to take a right decision," Medvedev
said after the two leaders met on the sidelines of the UN assembly.
In related news, the Financial Times on Wednesday reported that Chinese
state companies began supplying gasoline to Iran earlier in September
and now provide up to one-third of its imports.
The Sino-Iranian deal may undermine US-led efforts to shut off the
supply of fuel on which Iran’s economy depends. Iran has large reserves
of crude oil but its refining capacity is minimal.