Iran, embroiled in a deepening nuclear row with the West, says experts and officials from some 60 countries have been invited to the April 17-18 meeting in Tehran, called “Nuclear energy for everyone, nuclear arms for no one.”

“The Chinese have welcomed the Islamic Republic’s initiative and the idea of calling on the world to disarm and will take part in the Tehran conference,” chief Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili was quoted as saying by official IRNA news agency.

Jalili, who visited Beijing last week, did not say at what level China would be represented.

Jalili told reporters on Friday, after meeting the Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in Beijing, that the two sides agreed sanctions had “lost their effectiveness.”

China, which buys large amounts of oil from Iran, has for months fended off Western calls to back further UN Security Council sanctions on the Islamic state. But in moves last week that could ease strained Sino-US ties, China announced Hu would attend the April 12-13 summit in Washington, while its diplomats signaled readiness to join serious talks with Western powers on new sanctions on Iran. The US has welcomed China’s decision to join negotiations on imposing new sanctions and said Hu’s visit to Washington for the multination meeting hosted by President Barack Obama could set the stage for tougher action on Tehran. The Washington meeting itself focuses not on reducing nuclear weapon stockpiles worldwide, but on the less controversial issue of “securing” nuclear material to prevent it falling into the wrong hands.