China urges all sides to ease tensions over Iran

BEIJING (Reuters) - China urged all sides on Tuesday to try to ease mounting tensions over Iran's nuclear plans and focus on negotiations, as Western powers ramp up pressure on Tehran to come clean.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said China wanted positive results from talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council as well as Germany, to be held in Geneva on Thursday.

The permanent Council members are the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China.

"We hope that all sides will use this opportunity to enhance diplomatic efforts ... and seek a comprehensive, lasting and appropriate solution to the Iran nuclear issue," Jiang told a regular news briefing in Beijing.

"We believe that all sides should take more steps to ease tensions and resolve problems, and not the opposite," Jiang said.

China's delegation to the talks will be led by an official in charge of arms control, she added.

On Monday, Iran test-fired missiles, which a commander said could hit any regional target, adding to alarm in Western nations over revelations last week that the country was building a second uranium enrichment facility.

The United States and European powers have called for greater force behind demands that Iran be transparent abut its nuclear plans, and threatened Iran with "sanctions that bite."

China has also voiced concern about the enrichment plant, which has not yet come online, but has urged nations to solve the latest flare-up in tensions with Iran through negotiations.

Beijing's distaste for sanctions and appetite for Iran's oil mean it could flex its power as a permanent member of the Security Council to soften any proposed resolution that could threaten its economic and energy ties with Tehran.

"We support protecting the international nuclear non-proliferation regime and also advocate appropriately resolving the Iran nuclear issue through negotiations," Jiang, the foreign ministry spokeswoman, said.

(Reporting by Chris Buckley; Writing by Emma Graham-Harrison; Editing by Bill Tarrant)