VIENNA (Reuters) - China praised Russia's role in nuclear talks with Iran on Wednesday and said it was optimistic that a comprehensive settlement between Tehran and six world powers in their nuclear dispute can be reached by the July 20 deadline.
In rare comments to the press, a senior Chinese official at the talks held in Vienna said the powers - the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany - and Iran "demonstrated a sense of urgency" ahead of the expiration of their interim accord.
"Everyone is aiming at that (meeting the deadline)," the official, Wang Qun, told reporters after the two-day meeting in the Austrian capital.
"Every party seems to be very sincere and very genuine in their efforts," he said.
The powers want Iran to curb its nuclear activity, which Western nations fear aims to give Tehran the capability to manufacture an atomic bomb. Iran denies that and wants them to lift crippling economic sanctions.
The official, who heads the Chinese foreign ministry's arms control department, also said Russia was playing a constructive role in the negotiations despite mounting tensions between Moscow and western governments over the crisis in Ukraine.
"This is actually definitely helpful to the overall result of the dialogue," he said.
China, Iran's top oil customer and a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, has opposed unilateral sanctions on Tehran such as those imposed by Washington and the European Union, and has called repeatedly for talks to resolve the decade-long dispute.
(Reporting by Justyna Pawlak and Fredrik Dahl; editing by Ralph Boulton)
