AP:  China shows no sign of budging on Iran sanctions

China showed no sign Tuesday of throwing its support behind new sanctions against Iran following talks with Britain’s foreign minister, who had hoped to persuade Beijing to join a growing international consensus for more stringent measures.  Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi maintained that sanctions weren’t the solution to disagreements over Iran’s nuclear program and that more talks were the way forward.  “Sanctions do not provide a fundamental solution to the Iranian nuclear issue. Ultimately, this issue has to be appropriately resolved through peaceful negotiations,” Yang said at a joint news conference with Britain’s David Miliband following their discussions in Beijing.

BBC:  Iran nuclear issue ‘a shared goal’ for UK and China

The UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband has said Britain and China have “a shared goal” in resolving the issue of Iran’s nuclear programme.  And Mr Miliband, who is in Beijing for talks, said the two countries were “going to work very closely together to achieve it”.  His counterpart Yang Jiechi said China had become “more concerned” about Iran.  But he said tougher sanctions, favoured by Western nations, were not “a fundamental solution” to the problem.

BW:  Iran Rejects ‘Carrot, Stick’ Strategy on Atomic Issue

“The U.S. and other Western countries have pursued their previous method of carrot and stick and are thinking of sanctions,” Larijani, Iran’s former top nuclear negotiator, said today in a news conference aired live by state television. “I believe they have realized that these politics will not yield clear results.”

RFE:  U.S. Treasury Official Hails Selective Sanctions

Adjusting and even selectively loosening U.S sanctions against countries like Iran and Cuba can serve foreign policy goals by encouraging democratic change through greater Internet freedom and other means, a U.S. Treasury official has said.  Adam Szubin, director of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which enforces U.S. sanctions against designated states, companies and people, told a conference such “smart sanctions” would help the U.S. government further its goals of fostering greater freedom and democracy.

Reuters:  Time coming for sanctions against Iran, says Merkel