China urges dialogue to resolve Iran issue

BEIJING, Sep 5 (Reuters) China said again today that it hoped the Iran nuclear standoff with the West could be resolved through dialogue.

The remarks were China's first official comments on Iran since it failed to meet an August 31 deadline set by the UN Security Council to stop enriching uranium, a process Western powers fear is aimed at making nuclear weapons.

''We have consistently stood for the resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue through negotiation and dialogue,'' Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a regular news conference.

Tehran, the world's fourth largest oil exporter, says its uranium enrichment programme is to fulfil civilian energy needs.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told visiting UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Sunday that Iran wanted to find a negotiated solution to its nuclear standoff with the West.

But Germany has signalled it is running out of patience, saying if talks between Iran and the EU foreign policy chief fail to persuade Tehran to change its behaviour, action at the Security Council would have to be considered.

China, whose trade with Iran reached nearly 8 billion dollar in the first seven months of the year, has long urged negotiation as a way to solve the crisis and has traditionally opposed the use of sanctions in international diplomacy.

Iran provides more than 11 per cent of China's oil imports.

REUTERS PB SSC1305