China says stance on Iran stays the same

BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Tuesday its stand on Iran remained the same, to seek a solution through dialogue, hours after Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi talked to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice about Iran's nuclear program.

A top U.S. diplomat said on Monday that the United States had agreed with China on the basis for more U.N. sanctions on Iran, paving the way for a deal to be reached if Russia is brought on board.

Russia and China, both veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council, have typically opposed stronger sanctions on Iran, instead counseling negotiations to resolve the dispute over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

"On the Iranian nuclear issue, China's position is consistent," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a news briefing in Beijing.

Of Yang's telephone talk with Rice, Qin said: "He stressed that China upholds maintenance of the international nuclear non-proliferation regime, peace and stability in the Middle East and that resolving the Iran nuclear issue through negotiation serves the interests of the international community, including China and the United States."

He said he hoped Iran can fulfill its U.N. resolution obligations and cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

"U.N. Security Council action in this regard should be conducive to realizing the peaceful settlement of this issue through diplomatic negotiations."

Iran says its nuclear program is purely for energy purposes, countering accusations from Western powers that it is trying to build a bomb.

A U.S. intelligence report released on Monday, however, contradicted the Bush administration's assertions that Iran was developing a bomb, saying it halted its weapons program in 2003.

(Reporting by Lindsay Beck, editing by Nick Macfie)