China, Russia reject joint statement on Iran

VIENNA: China and Russia have rejected joining the West in a joint statement urging Iran to halt uranium enrichment, in diplomatic maneuvering on Tuesday ahead of a debate at the UN nuclear watchdog.

Diplomats played down the significance of this however, as China and Russia have already joined Britain, France, Germany and the United States in a ministerial agreement on June 1 calling on Iran to halt enrichment and join in talks on guaranteeing it will not make nuclear weapons.

"The effort didn't work to do a joint statement in Vienna," a senior European diplomat said. But the diplomat said the six world powers have never managed to get an EU-3 (Britain, France and Germany) Plus Three statement in Vienna, at meetings of the watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

A vigorous debate on Iran but no resolution is expected at this week's IAEA meeting of its 35-nation board of governors, with the Iranian issue expected to come up on Wednesday or Thursday.

The EU-3 are expected to issue a statement of their own, with each of the six countries that have made the offer to Iran issuing individual statements.

Iranian allies Russia and China are both reluctant to threaten sanctions against Iran for nuclear work which the United States says show that Tehran wants to develop atomic weapons.

But the two nations closed ranks with the three European Union powers plus the United States in offering Iran talks on trade, security and technology benefits if it would suspend uranium enrichment, which makes nuclear reactor fuel but also atom bomb material.