iran

China gave a low-key welcome to Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as he visited the Shanghai Expo on Friday, just days after Beijing voted for a fourth round of United Nations sanctions designed to curb Iran’s nuclear program.

Reaching out to the two countries that voted against new sanctions on Iran, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday that she thought Brazil and Turkey would continue to play an important role in diplomatic efforts with the Iranian government.

After patient and persistent diplomacy and a few perks, Russia and China, Iran's powerful trading partners, finally fell into line. But divisions have emerged elsewhere in the Security Council, signifying concerns about a strategy that appears to stress pressure over engagement with Iran.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will attend Iranian National Pavilion Day at the Shanghai World Expo on June 11, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang Tuesday at a regular news briefing.

To keep up, the embattled government has done everything in its power over the last year first to stanch the flow of stories and then to make the stories that inevitably leak out impossible for outsiders to verify.

In the last several years, at least since 2004, Iran has created a large network of installations of various kinds in Venezuela and in other countries in Latin America. It has engaged vigorously in activities covering such areas as diplomacy, commerce, finance, industry and energy. The total of the announced investments of Iran in Latin America exceeds $20 billion.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday the United States has serious disagreements with Brazil over its efforts to mediate with Iran over its nuclear program. But Clinton stressed the United States desire for good relations with the emerging South American power.

The international community, including Turkey and Brazil, is in staunch opposition to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. We are also dedicated to achieving a world without nuclear weapons.

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