PARIS — Reflecting a growing catalog of disputes between Washington and Beijing, a senior Chinese official said Thursday that pressure for tighter sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program could block chances of a diplomatic settlement to the dispute.
The official, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, was speaking in Paris less than a week after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton rebuked China over its opposition to stronger measures against Tehran, saying Beijing’s position was shortsighted.
Since then, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran has been reported to be reiterating support for a deal under which Iran would allow its low-enriched nuclear fuel to be exported for processing into nuclear fuel rods — prompting some skepticism in Europe and the United States about his motives.
“Iran has to be measured by its actions, not by what it says,” Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle of Germany said Wednesday.
The issue also arose during a visit to Paris by Mr. Yang, who was quoted on Thursday as telling reporters, “To talk about sanctions at the moment will complicate the situation and might stand in the way of finding a diplomatic solution.”
His remarks, quoted by Reuters, seemed a direct rebuff of efforts by the United States to secure broad international support for tougher penalties against Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, accused by the West of running a covert nuclear arms program. Tehran says the program is for peaceful civilian purposes only.
“China firmly supports the international nuclear nonproliferation regime,” Mr. Yang said. “All countries, Iran included if they obey I.A.E.A. rules, have a right to a peaceful use of nuclear energy.” The I.A.E.A. — the International Atomic Energy Agency — is the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, based in Vienna.
The differences over Iran coincide with a plethora of other disputes.
In recent days, China has objected to plans by President Obama to meet with the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, and to American weapons sales to Taiwan. Mrs. Clinton has also criticized China for censoring the Internet and the United States has challenged China on trade and financial issues.
The latest Iranian moves in the nuclear dispute have puzzled some of the Western countries — the United States, Britain, France and Germany — who form a group of countries along with China and Russia seeking to end the standoff.
“I am perplexed and even a little pessimistic,” the French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, said on Wednesday, referring to Mr. Ahmadinejad’s reported offer to meet the demand for low-enriched uranium to be exported for processing.
News reports quoted the Iranian leader as saying on Tuesday: “There is really no problem. Some made a fuss for nothing. There is no problem.” But, while Western experts say it would take a year to complete the process, Mr. Ahmadinejad said it would take “four or five months.”
Some Western officials said Mr. Ahmadinejad may be trying to buy time or dilute pressure for tougher penalties imposed by the United Nations. His remarks seemed to contradict earlier Iranian statements rejecting the deal to send low-enriched uranium abroad, and they did not address a dispute over how it should be sent — either in a single batch, as international powers want, or in several, smaller batches, as Iran wishes.
In Vienna the atomic agency said it would not comment on Mr. Ahmadinejad’s offer. Diplomats with knowledge of the situation said Iran had not formally confirmed its position to the agency, apparently preferring to make its views known through public channels such as interviews and statements to the state-run media.
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