U.S.: Nuclear Iran Is Not in China's Best Interest

A Nuclear Iran would not be in China's interest, the White House said on Thursday, adding that the United States expected continued Chinese cooperation in talks over Tehran's controversial nuclear program.

Asked about China's reported reluctance to impose further sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the United States expected China to work with it on the "next steps" on Iran.

"It was not in China's interests to have a nuclear Iran," he told a briefing.

Gibbs' comments came as tensions between Beijing and Washington had reached new heights over a reported massive U.S. arms deal with Taiwan, which China refuses to recognize as an independent state.

The new clash between two of the world's most powerful superpowers caused some in the international community to doubt whether the U.S. could sway permanent United Nations Security Council members Russia and China to take new steps against Iran.

Russia, France and the United States, the other parties to the plan under which Iran would swap potential atom bomb material for fuel for nuclear medicine.

Also on Thursday, Iran's envoy to the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency said that the willingness of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to enrich uranium outside the country, as stipulated in the UN-drafted deal, was a signal of Tehran's wish to cooperate with the West.

Ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh told Reuters he had not notified the International Atomic Energy Agency of any new Iranian position on the IAEA-brokered proposal, stalled for months by disputes over where and how to carry it out.

Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday Iran was now prepared to send low-enriched uranium (LEU) abroad before getting reactor fuel back. Before, Tehran insisted on small swaps on its own soil.

That would defeat the draft plan's purpose of reducing Iran's total LEU reserve below the quantity required to set off an atomic bomb, if it were refined to high purity.

"What my president said in fact shows that Iran has the political will to facilitate ... cooperation rather than confrontation, and now its up to the others to use this opportunity," Soltanieh said.

"His message is, in fact, a very positive, constructive message, testing the political and goodwill of others to shift gears from confrontation to cooperation."

Soltanieh said he had not conveyed Ahmadinejad's gesture to IAEA chief Yukiya Amano. Asked whether this would raise doubts whether Tehran had really shifted position, he said: "Please don't make a judgment." He declined to be specific.

Iran: Russia to deliver long-range aerial defense

The Iranian ambassador in Moscow said Thursday that Russia has assured Iran that it still intends to deliver long-range air-defense missiles.

Russian news agencies cite Seyyed Mahmoud-Reza Sajjadi as saying on Thursday "our Russian colleagues have assured us that they will meet their obligations." A Kremlin spokesman declined to comment.

Russia signed a 2007 contract to sell the S-300 missile complex, but so far has not delivered. The delay has not been explained, but Israel and the United States strongly objected to Iran obtaining the missiles, which would significantly boost the country's defense capability.

The ambassador was quoted as saying Iran is ready to receive the weapons.

A top Russian arms trade official recently signaled the delivery may go ahead.

The statement by the Iranian envoy came after Iran accused the United States Tuesday of launching a "psychological war" in the Gulf region by presenting Tehran as a threat to Gulf Arab states to convince them they needed U.S. protection.

On Sunday U.S. officials said the United States had expanded land-and sea-based missile defense systems in and around the Gulf - a waterway crucial for global oil supplies - to counter what it sees as Iran's growing missile threat.

The U.S. deployments include expanded land-based Patriot defensive missile installations in Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

"They don't want to see good and growing relations between Iran and its neighbors in the Persian Gulf and thus started a psychological war," Major General Hassan Firouzabadi, the chief of staff of Iran's armed forces, was quoted as saying on semi-official news agency ILNA.

Iran's top military official also played down the threat to the Islamic republic from Patriot missiles. "It is not new for us ... we were informed when they were installed, including about their exact locations ... Patriot missile could be easily deactivated by using simple tactics."

A foreign ministry official said earlier this week Washington was trying to stoke "Iran phobia" in the Middle East and said Tehran enjoyed friendly ties with neighboring states.