A top diplomat said yesterday that Russia's Feb. 16 talks with Iran would cover not only Moscow's offer to enrich Iranian uranium on Russian territory, but also a whole range of issues concerning the two countries, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.
Moscow "is counting on conducting consultations with Iran on Feb. 16 on the proposed joint venture to enrich uranium," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak was quoted as saying. "Not only the nuclear dossier, but also the whole complex of relations with Iran will be discussed at these consultations in Moscow."
Russia has been urging Tehran not to backpedal on its agreement to the Moscow meeting in spite of its threats to restart its own enrichment activities. Iran says it wants to make fuel through enrichment, but the activity can also generate the nuclear core of warheads.
Russia's proposal for joint enrichment "is intended to remove all the worries around its nuclear program," Kislyak was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, China said yesterday the Iranian nuclear standoff could still be defused through negotiations without a showdown in the UN, and urged countries to intensify efforts for a diplomatic compromise.
China voted for an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) resolution on Iran because it believed that decision would encourage further talks.
"The Iranian nuclear issue should be appropriately resolved through diplomatic negotiations," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan (
"We still hope that this kind of resolution will help promote diplomatic resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue within the framework of the IAEA."
Iran has told the IAEA to remove some surveillance equipment from its nuclear facilities by mid-February, a defiant response to an IAEA vote reporting Tehran to the UN Security Council.
The IAEA decision made on Saturday calls for its chief Mohamed ElBaradei to report to it by March 6 on Iran's response to demands that it suspend nuclear enrichment activities and improve cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.
ElBaradei may send his report to the Security Council after the IAEA meeting in early March.
But Kong said the resolution did not oblige the IAEA to refer Iran to the Council, and he urged all the sides to intensify diplomatic efforts and called for Iran to abide by the resolution.
"There is still room to resolve the issue through diplomatic negotiations," he said.
Before the IAEA vote, China repeatedly deflected calls from Western countries to refer Iran to the UN Security Council, instead urging Iran to settle the standoff through talks with Britain, France and Germany, known as the EU-3.
On Monday, China's ambassador to the UN, Wang Guangya (王光亞), also called for negotiated settlement between Iran and the European countries.
"China prefers to have the EU-3 continue the negotiations with Iranian's to find a long-term solution on this issue," he reportedly said.
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