【10.05.01 巴基斯坦战斗报】China eyes targeted sanctions on Iran

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http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=236968

Saturday, May 01, 2010
BEIJING: The European Union抯 foreign affairs chief said on Friday that China is willing to discuss sanctions on Iran as long as they are carefully targeted and bolster efforts to curb the Iranian nuclear programme.

EU Foreign Affairs High Representative Catherine Ashton said her discussions with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao show that China抯 position has evolved from agreeing in principal to discuss sanctions to recognising that targeted sanctions play a role.

扺e weren抰 discussing whether or not. We were discussing what sort?of sanctions, Ashton told reporters. She said that Wen wants to make sure that the sanctions are not so broad as to affect large segments of the population, but rather are targeted.

As a permanent UN Security Council member with veto power and a major customer for Iran抯 oil and gas, China occupies a pivotal position in efforts to curb the Iranian nuclear programme. Diplomats involved in trying to persuade Beijing to support sanctions previously thought that at best China would abstain in a Security Council vote and not back them a lack of unanimity that might encourage more foot-dragging by Tehran.

Publicly, China has given no sign that it is moving beyond its stated position that dialogue rather than sanctions offer the best chances for success. Ashton said that she too supports a negotiated settlement but not endless talk.

In recent days, Ashton said, ambassadors she did not further identify have passed her messages that Tehran wants to re-engage and if so Iran must show that more talks are not just a delaying tactic.

A sign of whether the threat of sanctions is making Tehran more amenable could come next week. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will address a UN conference to review the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in New York on Monday. Ashton and representatives of the other countries involved in the Iran nuclear negotiations 憈he United States, Russia, Britain, France, Germany and China?will also be at the conference.

Meanwhile, Iran will never accept swapping its low-enriched uranium with nuclear fuel abroad, a senior adviser to the country抯 top authority said on Friday.

Some countries, such as Turkey, have offered to mediate with the West to defuse mounting tension with Iran over the Islamic state抯 disputed nuclear activities, which the United States and its European allies fear is a cover for building bombs.

慦e must be very naive to trust the West ... Why do they insist on swapping nuclear fuel abroad? It shows they have satanic intentions,?Ali Akbar Velayati, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei抯 top adviser on international affairs, told Iran抯 state news agency IRNA.

慖ran will never trust the West to send its Low-Enriched Uranium (LEU) abroad,?he said. Turkey has suggested itself as a third country where the uranium could be exchanged. Asked whether such a swap could happen in Turkey a Nato member which borders Iran and is also a temporary member of the UN Security Council Velayati said: 慣he West can break its promises easily ... and Turkey cannot force them to fulfill their promises (to deliver nuclear fuel to Iran).?

Iran agreed to a Western offer last October to ship 1,200 kg (2,646 lb) of its LEU enough for a single bomb if purified to a high enough level to Russia and France to make into fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor. Iran later said it would only swap its LEU for higher grade material and only inside its soil, conditions other parties in the deal said were unacceptable.

The United States is pushing UN Security Council members, to back a fourth round of international sanctions on Iran in the coming weeks, to pressure it to curb its nuclear activities. Iran says its nuclear programme is aimed solely at generating electricity.