Iran's leader to visit China

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will visit Beijing in the near future, Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said during the "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow" program on Iran's Third Television Network, Fars reported.

Salehi also noted that China's Foreign Minister will visit Tehran in about two months.

China is Iran's political ally and the top buyer of Iranian oil, taking around 20 percent of total exports.

China's Foreign Ministry said on Friday it will send a senior official to Iran for talks on the country's nuclear program, which has spurred tensions between Tehran and the West and led to new European Union and U.S. sanctions.

Assistant Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu will head to Iran for talks on Sunday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said, reiterating Beijing's emphasis on diplomacy over sanctions to resolve the issue.


/Trend/

Tensions rose last month when EU leaders agreed to embargo Iranian oil by July and to freeze the assets of Iran's central bank, joining the United States in a new round of measures aimed at discouraging Tehran's nuclear ambitions. Iran insists its nuclear program is purely for peaceful means.