China affirms Iranian right to ‘peaceful use’ of nuclear energy

Liu Bin, China’s assistant foreign minister, has told his Iranian counterpart that Beijing “supports Iran’s legitimate right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy” and “opposes the threat of force and sanctions pressure”. “China will … continue to promote the proper resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue,” Liu said, according to a statement released by China’s Foreign Ministry. Iran has repeatedly called its nuclear programme peaceful and denied that it was looking to build a weapon.