AP: China denied Thursday that it had provided the International Atomic Energy Agency with intelligence linked to Iran’s alleged attempts to make nuclear arms. The Associated Press
BEIJING (AP) China denied Thursday that it had provided the International Atomic Energy Agency with intelligence linked to Iran’s alleged attempts to make nuclear arms.
China opposes harsh U.N. Security Council sanctions against Iran and has consistently watered down a U.S.-led push to impose severe penalties on Tehran for its nuclear defiance since the first set of sanctions was passed in late 2006.
An Associated Press report published Wednesday was “totally groundless and out of ulterior motives,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said. She did not give further details.
The news story was published after two senior diplomats who closely follow the IAEA investigation of Iran’s nuclear program told the AP that China gave information about Iran to the nuclear agency. The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because their information was confidential.
A Chinese decision to provide information for use in the IAEA’s attempts to probe Iran’s purported nuclear weapons program would appear to reflect growing international unease over the Islamic republic’s contention that it has never tried to make such arms.
