Chinese officials and defense analysts said yesterday that tough sanctions against Iran - a key Western demand - are likely to fail, or even backfire.

China's foreign affairs ministry, in what was Beijing's fifth announcement on the Iran nuclear issue this year, reiterated that only diplomatic effort could solve the problem, ahead of a scheduled meeting to discuss the issue over the weekend.

"China has consistently advocated a peaceful resolution to the Iran nuclear issue through diplomatic negotiations so as to maintain the validity of the international nuclear non-proliferation system and peace and stability in the Middle East region," the foreign affairs ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said.