Saudi Arabia denied on Friday that its officials had discussed with US Defence Secretary Robert Gates putting pressure on China to back a new round of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear ambitions.

An "official source" quoted by the official SPA news agency said reports that Riyadh said it was willing to use its influence to get Beijing to support UN sanctions aimed at convincing Iran to halt its atomic programme were false.

"This issue is not true, it was not discussed during the visit of the secretary of defence who was in the kingdom recently," the source was cited as saying.

The Saudi government often expresses its official view on sensitive topics as unidentified "official sources" speaking to SPA.

A Saudi official aware of the SPA statement told AFP the government did not wish to elaborate.

Gates visited Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and Abu Dhabi on Thursday to discuss Washington's push for new sanctions on Iran.

Western governments, particularly the United States and France, are seeking further sanctions on Tehran in the hope of stopping the Islamic republic's nuclear drive, which they suspect may be aimed at acquiring atomic weapons.

Iran says its nuclear programme is for purely peaceful purposes.

Gates told reporters in Abu Dhabi that he felt the two Gulf countries are willing to use their economic leverage to persuade China to lift its opposition to sanctions.

"I have the sense that there's a willingness to do that," he said in Abu Dhabi.

The two oil-rich states were also open to lobbying Moscow on the issue, "although there's less need with respect to Russia," he said, as it was more supportive of sanctions.

The focus was "mainly China," he added.

US officials believe Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi can influence Beijing because of their huge oil exports to China.

But China also buys large amounts of oil from Iran, and has resisted putting pressure on Tehran, at least publicly.

The SPA statement did not mention whether Riyadh supported the US-advocated financial sanctions targeting Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard.

Following Gates's talks with King Abdullah and Crown Prince and Defence Minister Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, a US official told reporters that "it was our strong impression that this overall approach was one that the Saudis were supportive of."

earlier related report
EU ready to take unilateral sanctions against Tehran: Kouchner
Saariselka, Finland (AFP) March 14, 2010 - The European Union is ready to unilaterally impose new sanctions on Iran over its disputed nuclear programme, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner confirmed Sunday.

Asked by journalists whether there was a consensus within the EU for unilateral sanctions against Iran, Kouchner replied "broadly yes, but we have to talk about what kind of sanctions.

"And first we should devote our strength and time to getting a resolution in the UN Security Council and we're working on that," he said.

"The general consensus is also to not target the people but to target the economy, banking, insurance and travel permits for some particular people," he added.

Kouchner was speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Finland. On Saturday his Finnish counterpart Alexander Stubb indicated that there was a sufficient consensus within the EU to impose unilateral sanctions on Iran if need be.

The statements were the first clear declarations by European officials that the bloc is ready to order sanctions outside of a UN framework, a measure which only recently several member countries had opposed.

Western governments, particularly the United States and France, are seeking further sanctions in the hope of stopping Tehran's nuclear drive, which they suspect may be aimed at acquiring atomic weapons.

The Islamic republic says its nuclear programme is for purely peaceful purposes.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said any EU move was unlikely for the coming months as the UN Security Council is expected to take up a new sanctions resolution.

"The United States are expected to present a draft resolution at the end of March," said Frattini, with consideration of the measure to take several months, which he called "a reasonable delay."

Of the five permanent Security Council members, currently only China opposes new measures against Iran.

The 15-strong UN Security Council has five permanent veto-wielding members: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

Adoption of a resolution requires at least nine votes from the council and no veto from the permanent members.

A European diplomat who asked not to be named said that EU members were not completely unanimous, with Sweden in particular still reluctant to support sanctions outside of the UN framework.

With the improved chances of obtaining an UN Security Council resolution the EU may avoid facing the question of independently imposing sanctions, she added.

earlier related report
Brazil, Germany clash on Iran nuclear sanctions
Brasilia (AFP) March 10, 2010 - Brazil and Germany differed sharply Wednesday on whether to threaten Iran with fresh United Nations sanctions in a bid to rein in its disputed nuclear program.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim and his German counterpart Guido Westerwelle said after talks here they agreed it was crucial to prevent the creation of a new nuclear power, but clashed on the issue of sanctions.

Tehran must be given further opportunities to prove its willingness to cooperate with the United Nations, Amorim argued.

"We want clarity and transparency for the international community over Iran's nuclear program, but what we primarily see is Iran's willingness to negotiate," he told reporters when asked about potential UN sanctions against the Islamic republic.

"We want a peaceful solution to the dispute without a great cost to the people of Iran."

After the talks in Brasilia, Westerwelle said he saw clear differences in the assessment of the threat posed by Iran's nuclear activities.

"We live on different continents and the distance to Iran between Brazil and Europe is great," Westerwelle said, saying European powers were "deeply worried" by Tehran's sensitive nuclear work.

"We remain ready to negotiate. But since we have had the impression that our outstretched hand has nothing to grasp... we will have to talk about other measures."

Brazil is reluctant to back a US-led drive for a fourth set of sanctions on the Islamic republic, saying the move would likely be "counterproductive."

It is a current voting member on the 15-strong United Nations Security Council, though not one of the five permanent veto-wielding members: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

Adoption of a resolution requires at least nine votes from the council and no veto from the permanent members. Diplomats say Brazil could abstain in a Security Council vote.

Germany belongs to the so-called P5-plus-1 group which has for years spearheaded efforts to rein in Iran's nuclear program, which the West fears masks a drive for a nuclear weapon.

Iran denies the accusations, saying its program is purely for civilian nuclear energy purposes.

Westerwelle met President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva later in Sao Paolo for talks that covered UN reform, international financial markets and "global peace issues."

The minister told reporters after the meeting that Brazil had "enormous authority around the world" that was needed to confront threats to global security.

"We must work as closely as possible with countries like Brazil if we want to be successful," he said.

After their talks, Amorim and Westerwelle both expressed optimism that the outlines of a long-stalled free trade deal between the European Union and South America's Mercosur bloc could be hammered out by the end of the year.

Brazil is the fourth and final country on Westerwelle's Latin American tour, which began Sunday with an aid delivery to quake-stricken Chile and continued with stops in Argentina and Uruguay.

Earlier Wednesday, Westerwelle met with development minister Miguel Jorge.

Delegation sources said Jorge stressed that Brazil wanted to work closely with Germany, which hosted the soccer World Cup in 2006, in preparing for its own turn staging the event in 2014.

He said Brazil sought German cooperation in particular in modernizing its stadiums with solar technology.

Westerwelle said German firms were strongly interested in developing the civilian use of nuclear energy in Brazil as well as renewable energy.

Germany is Brazil's fourth biggest trade partner after China, the United States and Argentina, with trade volume in 2008 of 18.1 billion euros (24.7 billion dollars).

Brazil forecasts about five-percent economic growth this year.