China joins Russia in Iran diplomacy

By Chris Buckley

BEIJING (Reuters) – China joined Russia on Thursday in
diplomatic efforts to ease a crisis over Iran’s nuclear work
before a U.N. atomic watchdog meeting and avert any sanctions.

Moscow and Beijing, each with heavy trade and investment
stakes in Iran, do not want an International Atomic Energy
Agency board meeting on March 6 to precipitate moves in the
U.N. Security Council for sanctions against Tehran.

The board will hear a crucial IAEA report dealing with
suspicions Iran is secretly seeking atom bombs. The report is
likely to influence any future council action. Russia and China
are keen to coax Iran into a compromise before then.

Russia began negotiations with Iran this week on its idea
to enrich uranium for Tehran, which could placate Western
powers by effectively denying the Islamic Republic the nuclear
fuel technology required for building bombs.

But Iran, while sounding more receptive to an enrichment
joint venture with Russia since the IAEA reported it to the
Security Council on February 4, insists on a right to uranium
enrichment at home, where it is pursuing a pilot project.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Vice Foreign Minister Lu
Guozeng, a Middle East specialist, would start three days of
talks in Tehran on Friday on defusing the standoff between Iran
and the United States and its European Union allies.

“China will explore with Iran how to ease the crisis under
present circumstances and how to take practical measures to
stop the problem from worsening,” ministry spokesman Liu
Jianchao told a news briefing.

Russia and China, like officials close to the IAEA who
privately criticized the agency’s decision to report Iran to
the Security Council, fear steps toward sanctions will only
worsen the crisis by driving Iran into a corner and imperiling
a U.N. inspections regime that Tehran has promised to retain.

But Washington says Iran must pay a serious price if it
does not act soon to clear up suspicions about its atomic
ambitions.

Iran says its nuclear industry will only be used to
generate electricity, not to make bombs.

BE FLEXIBLE, CHINA URGES WEST

Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing appealed on Wednesday to the
West to be patient and flexible in the hope that Iran and the
three EU powers which froze negotiations in anger at Tehran’s
resumption of enrichment work could revive dialogue.

“The days before the March 6 meeting of the IAEA are
crucial,” Xinhua news agency quoted Li as saying after meeting
visiting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, whose
country along with Britain and France form the EU trio.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on
Thursday Tehran was seriously considering Russia’s proposal but
needs to discuss further the timing and place for any
enrichment.

Discussions between Iran and Russia over the offer ended on
Tuesday with an agreement to continue talks this week during a
visit to Tehran by the head of Moscow’s nuclear agency.

“There must be some new elements in that proposal. If you
ask about the main elements I will tell you — the timing and
place,” Mottaki told reporters during a visit to Jakarta.

Iran’s atomic energy commission chief has asked Russia to
specify whether its plan would allow Iranian scientists to take
part, or would limit Tehran’s role to a financial stake, which
he said would be unacceptable.

The main sticking point seems to be Russia’s condition that
Iran re-suspend enrichment-related activity at its underground
Natanz plant resumed last month after a 2 1/2-year moratorium
agreed during talks with the EU trio.

“The negotiations with Iran are not easy but we are
counting on reaching a positive result. We are not losing
optimism,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.

Washington wants a Security Council debate on sanctions but
faces resistance from Russia and China, which are among the
five permanent members of the top world body and have veto
power.

Iran’s defiance of Western pressure is based partly on a
belief that Russia and China will eventually block sanctions.

“We believe that the Security Council is not a tool for
specific countries to use it against other independent
countries. We believe the time for tough language is over. The
time for a unilateral approach is over,” Mottaki said.

(Additional reporting by Benjamin Kang Lim, Joel Kirkhart
and Ben Blanchard in Beijing, and Achmad Sukarsono in Jakarta)