BEIJING — China said Friday that it opposes the sanctions the European Union is imposing on Iran over its disputed nuclear program, saying it supports Iran's renewed efforts to hold talks on a possible swap of nuclear fuel.

China often says dialogue and diplomatic means are the best way to resolve the Iran nuclear issue, and a spokeswoman for China's Foreign Ministry, Jiang Yu, repeated that position in comments posted on the ministry's website.

The European Union and Canada adopted new sanctions Monday against Iran that target its foreign trade, banking and energy sectors.

Article:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hDb6QE6dUOmI-OQUvxlCSP...

_____

TEHRAN - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov issued a statement on Tuesday condemning the European Union’s decision to impose unilateral sanctions on Iran.

The EU adopted new sets of sanctions on Monday targeting Iran’s foreign trade, banks and insurance companies, and energy sectors.

Lavrov said the EU sanctions on Iran would hamper international efforts to resolve the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program, Reuters reported.

The use of sanctions outside the framework of the United Nations Security Council is unacceptable, he added.

Russia, which is one of the six major powers negotiating with Tehran over the nuclear issue, voted in favor of the June 9 UN Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on Iran but has expressed opposition to EU and U.S. unilateral measures eve

Article:
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Index_view.asp?code=223720

_______

Azerbaijan to buy Russian surface-to-air missiles

Russia and Azerbaijan have signed an unprecedented $300 million contract for the delivery of S-300-PMU-2 Favorit (SA-20 Gargoyle) surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems to Baku. No other post-Soviet republic has received so many of these SAMs to date.

Can Moscow stop the war against Iran?

Moscow is seriously concerned about the anti-Iranian actions of Washington and Brussels, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko.

He said they undermined joint efforts to search for a political-diplomatic settlement of the situation surrounding Iran's nuclear program and showed contempt for UN Security Council resolutions.

On July 26, European foreign ministers agreed to freeze European investment in the Iranian oil and gas sector and to ban industrial technology and equipment transfers. The new sanctions also aim to ban exports of products that could be used by Tehran for military purposes.

Unilateral resolutions proposed by the United States and the European Union and rubberstamped by the United Nations, as well as other ways of exerting political-diplomatic pressure on Tehran, are leading toward a large-scale conflict in the Middle East which would inevitably focus on Iran.

Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko recently visited Tehran, where the sides signed a roadmap for bilateral energy cooperation. Shmatko said he saw no restrictions hindering such cooperation.

Moscow's European partners are now siding with Washington and thus limiting Russia's diplomatic maneuvering room. No one can say for sure whether Moscow will assist any hypothetical anti-Iranian aggression under an Afghanistan-type scenario, by providing "civilian" and "military" corridors in its air space.

Article:
http://en.rian.ru/papers/20100729/159993838.html

_______