China calls for diplomacy over Iran nuclear program

China’s Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi has called for a diplomatic solution to the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program.

The Chinese official made the proposal in Istanbul during a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu on Wednesday.

Jiechi’s remarks come after four of the P5+1 (five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) members backed a range of new and tougher sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Despite Iran’s full cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the transparency of its nuclear program, Israel, along with the United States and its European allies — Britain, France, and Germany — accuse the Islamic Republic of covertly seeking to produce nuclear weapons, an allegation that Tehran vehemently denies.

The IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence that Iran’s civilian nuclear program has been diverted to nuclear weapons production.

The Islamic Republic of Iran insists its nuclear activities are solely aimed at the civilian applications of the technology such as generating electricity for a growing population.