BEIJING: China said on Friday it opposed tough new sanctions imposed by the European Union (EU) on Iran over its contested nuclear programme, again calling for more talks to resolve the standoff.

“China disapproves of the unilateral sanctions put in place by the EU against Iran,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in a statement.

“We hope the relevant parties will adhere to diplomatic means on the issue, and properly resolve the issue through talks and negotiation,” she said.

The spokeswoman welcomed Iran’s announcement that it was ready for immediate talks with the United States, Russia and France over an exchange of nuclear fuel, saying she hoped talks would begin “as soon as possible.”

European foreign ministers on Monday formally adopted measures targeting Iran’s oil and gas industries, going beyond a fourth set of UN sanctions imposed last month over its refusal to freeze uranium enrichment.

Canada then followed suit.

Russia’s foreign ministry on Tuesday called the new EU sanctions “unacceptable”.

“We have already said many times that we consider unacceptable the practice of unilateral or collective sanctions measures against Iran that go beyond the Security Council sanctions regime in action in the country,” it said. The US announced on Thursday that top officials will visit China and other countries in support of tighter sanctions against Tehran.

“China is of concern to us in this regard,” Robert Einhorn, the US State Department’s special adviser for non-proliferation and arms control, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

“We need for them to enforce the Security Council resolutions conscientiously and we also need for them not to ‘backfill’ when responsible countries have distanced themselves from Iran,” he said.

Einhorn said he and Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes Daniel Glaser would visit China at the “end of August” as part of a push to “raise this at the highest levels.” Glaser later said he and Einhorn were headed “to Japan and South Korea next week, and China later in the month” as part of a push to get US partners in Asia, the Middle East, and South America to tighten sanctions on Tehran.

Einhorn said he would press Chinese officials not to “backfill” — step up trade or investment in Iran to replace firms from “responsible countries” that leave the Iranian market in the face of broad international sanctions.

“It’s important that China step up and recognise” that it has “responsibilities” as a permanent UN Security Council member to implement the council’s sanctions on Tehran, said Einhorn.

“The Chinese will argue that they have important security needs” related to getting energy for their booming economy, the diplomat said. “In our view they are overachieving in terms of their energy security needs.”