U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, launching a G8 foreign ministers summit on Monday, said the world could not accept a nuclear-armed Iran and that China would be involved in considering new sanctions proposals.

Speaking at a meeting expected to focus on Iran, Clinton played down fears that China was out of step with the other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council on the question of imposing a fourth round of sanctions against Tehran.

“In fact, China is part of the consultative group that has been unified all along the way, which has made it very clear that a nuclear-armed Iran is not acceptable to the international community,” Clinton told CTV in an interview.

“I think, as the weeks go forward and we begin the hard work of trying to come up with a Security Council resolution, China will be involved. They will be making their suggestions,” she said.

“As in any effort, we’re going to have to try to come to some consensus and we’re in the middle of that process.”

Clinton’s comments, at the start of a meeting of the foreign ministers of the the Group of Eight industrialized countries — United States, Canada, Britain, France, Japan, Germany, Italy and Russia — were the latest optimistic note from Washington that it was winning China over to the idea of new sanctions on Iran.

The White House issued a brief statement late on Mondaysaying President Barack Obama had met with the new Chinese envoy to Washington and told him the United States wanted to develop a positive relationship with Beijing.

“The president also stressed the need for the United States and China to work together and with the international community on critical global issues including nonproliferation and pursuing sustained and balanced global growth,” the statement said.

The three Western members of the Security Council — the United States, France and Britain — along with Germany have been pushing hard for a new round of sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, which they fear is a cover for producing atomic weapons.

Russia has been less enthusiastic but has recently signaled it may come on board with the plan.

But China, which has close economic links to Iran, has repeatedly said that the world needs more time to find a diplomatic solution to the standoff over the Iranian nuclear program, which Tehran insists is purely for peaceful purposes.

Despite this, a Chinese official last week took part in a conference call with other powers to discuss a U.S. proposal on sanctions, Beijing’s first step in months to engage in serious discussions on the issue.

While the group did not agree on a specific proposal, another conference call is expected in the coming days as diplomats try to close the gaps and agree on a sanctions plan acceptable to the Chinese, U.S. officials said.

“They have said now that they will engage on the elements of a resolution,” one senior U.S. official said.

Momentum for new sanctions has gathered steam since Tehran rejected an offer of a nuclear fuel swap deal that would have been brokered by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, speaking to reporters in Washington, said the United States was increasingly encouraged by the signs coming from Beijing.

“On issues of concern to us, we have seen some progress,” Steinberg said.

“We’ve had a recognition by our Chinese counterparts of the danger of the Iranian nuclear program and the fact that there does not seem to be a willingness (by) the Iranians to take the very generous offer.”

MOSCOW ATTACKS CAST SHADOW

The G8 meeting was also expected to take up other issues including the impasse over North Korea’s nuclear program, nuclear non-proliferation, and the threat posed by extremist groups — underscored by Monday’s suicide suicide bomb attacks that killed 38 in Moscow metro stations.

The G8 ministers released a statement strongly condemning the “cowardly terrorist attacks on Moscow” and calling for those responsible to be brought to justice.

“They vowed that they would continue to thwart and constrain terrorists and to work for a world that is safe for all, based on the principles of democracy, and respect for the rule of law and for human rights,” the statement said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the Interfax news agency that militants operating on the Afghan-Pakistan border may have helped organize the Moscow attacks, which saw two female bombers target metro stations during the morning rush hour.

Clinton, who earlier issued her own condemnation of the Moscow attack, told CTV that overall there was a connection between most of the terror attacks around the world.

“They get encouragement from each other, they exchange training, explosives, information,” Clinton said, while saying she did not know the details of the Moscow incident.

“I don’t think we want to go so far as to say they are all part of the same operation, but certainly there is a common theme to many of them,” she said.

(Additional reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa, Paul Eckert and Deborah Charles in Washington and Conor Humphries in Moscow)