PARIS/BEIJING – Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday there was still room for diplomacy rather than sanctions to produce a solution to the dispute with Iran over its nuclear programme. "We will concentrate all efforts on finding political and diplomatic solutions. These efforts have not yet been exhausted," Lavrov told journalists during a trip to Paris. Meanwhile, China stood its ground that diplomacy was the best way to resolve the standoff over Iran's nuclear programme, as US diplomats arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for talks on Tehran and North Korea's atomic ambitions. The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang indicated yesterday his government would take its time on negotiating the Iran nuclear issue. "We believe there is still room for diplomatic efforts and the parties concerned should intensify those efforts," Qin told a regular news conference in Beijing.
