China renews call for diplomacy on Iran

"A peaceful solution through diplomatic means is the best way and complies with the interests of all parties," Qin said on Thursday.

"China is in close contact with the relevant parties and strives to promote peaceful negotiations," he added.

He Yafei, China's ambassador to the United Nations Office in Geneva, said Wednesday that China has been engaged in regular talks with Tehran to urge the Islamic Republic to agree to a proposal put forth by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as a first step to resolve the nuclear issue.

Under the proposal, most of Iran's existing low-enriched uranium (LEU) should be shipped to Russia and fromt here to France, where it would be processed into fuel rods with a purity of 20 percent.

The nuclear fuel would then be transported back to Iran for the use at Tehran research reactor.

"I think the door of compromise through negotiations, the door of diplomacy, is not closed," He said.

Tehran approached the proposed deal with skepticism, maintaining that it will not send out the bulk of its LEU without guarantees that it would receive the 20 percent enriched uranium later on.

Iran needs the 20 percent-enriched uranium to fuel the Tehran Research Reactor, which produces radio medicine for cancer patients.

The country has been promised nuclear fuel for over 30 years now. Despite being a 10-percent shareholder and hence entitled to the European Gaseous Diffusion Uranium Enrichment Consortium (Eurodif)'s output, Iran has never received enriched uranium from France.

Tehran and Paris have also signed a deal, under which France is obliged to deliver 50 tons of uranium hexafluoride to Iran — another obligation France has failed to meet.


/Press TV/