BEIJING — China and Iran expressed measured support Thursday for a Russian proposal designed to break a deadlock over Tehran's nuclear program even as they repeated their opposition to U.N. sanctions.
Moscow has proposed that nuclear fuel for Iranian reactors be enriched on Russian soil, thereby reducing international fears that it might be diverted into a weapons program.
Senior Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani told reporters at the Iranian Embassy in Beijing that the Russian proposal was useful but required further discussion. He added that imposing sanctions on Iran could backfire.
"It would be a disgrace to condemn with sanctions a country for peaceful research. Surely the world would not accept such an action," Larijani said. "But if this kind of mistake happens, the consequences of the wrong actions will return back to those who put Iran under pressure."
In a separate briefing Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said China hoped other countries would consider Moscow's proposal. "We think the Russian proposal is a good attempt to break this stalemate," he said.
Washington and its European allies suspect Tehran of trying to build a nuclear weapon and have called on the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, to refer the issue to the U.N. at its emergency meeting Feb. 2. Such a move could subject Iran to economic and political sanctions.
In an interview in Washington on Thursday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the case should be transferred to the U.N. as soon as possible. She said Iran's sudden interest in the Russian proposal was little more than a stalling tactic.
"The Iranians are doing nothing but trying to throw up chaff so that they are not referred to the Security Council, and people shouldn't let them get away with it," she told Reuters news service. "The time [for referral] has come."
Iran says its intentions are peaceful and its interests limited to nuclear energy, not weapons, even as it argues that having the enrichment process carried out on foreign soil would undermine its sovereignty.
At the Iranians' news conference, reporters were shown a government video titled "Iran's Peaceful Civilian Nuclear Program," which included multicolored molecules floating across the screen bombarding one another in slow motion.
"Bright Future," a caption read. "Iran's Nuclear Future."
