China warns against war on Iran
A senior Chinese official warns that any military aggression against Iran over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program would endanger the region's security and undermine global economic recovery.
"If force is used on Iran, it will certainly incur retaliation, cause an even greater military clash, worsen turmoil in the region, threaten the security of the Strait of Hormuz and other strategic passages, drive up global oil prices and strike a blow at the world economic recovery," Director-General for Chinese Foreign Ministry's Department of West Asian and North African Affairs Chen Xiaodong said on Friday.
"The international community has a responsibility to restrain itself from war," he warned.
The US and the Israeli regime have been escalating their war rhetoric against the Islamic Republic in the recent months based on repeated baseless allegations that Iran's nuclear energy program is diverted towards non-civilian objectives.
Iran refutes the allegations, arguing that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to develop and acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
The IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence indicating that Tehran's civilian nuclear program has been diverted towards nuclear weapons production.