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Iran: China wants diplomacy
20/04/2006 20:04 - (SA)
Washington - Chinese President Hu Jintao vowed on Thursday to back a diplomatic end to the Iran nuclear crisis even as new cracks emerged among world powers confronting Tehran.
At a joint news conference with President George W Bush on the White House lawn, Hu said he was prepared to work with Washington on Iran, and the nuclear crisis in North Korea.
"We are ready to continue to work with the US side and other parties concerned to peacefully resolve the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula and Iranian nuclear issue through diplomatic negotiations," Hu said.
China has been one of the major opponents of a US push to seek tough UN action against Iran.
The United States still appeared to be alone among the major powers to keep open the option of military action to stop Iran's nuclear programme, which it suspects is a covert attempt to build the atom bomb. 'Self-defence'
US secretary of state Condoleeza said this week she believed diplomacy would work with Iran but the right to "self-defence" does not require a UN security council resolution.
Further magnifying an East-West split over how to respond to Tehran, Russia on Thursday angrily rejected a demand by the US for Moscow to halt construction of a nuclear power plant in Iran.
"Every country has the right to decide itself with whom and how it co-operates," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
An Iranian delegation was in Moscow on Thursday for a second day of secretive talks against a background of rising international tensions and record high oil prices of more than $74.2 in London.
Iran says the enriched uranium is needed to fuel a nascent civilian nuclear power programme, but the United Nations has given Iran until the end of April to halt all enrichment activity. IAEA report
Deputy foreign minister Sergei Kislyak said that Moscow would decide its position on Iran after Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, reported on April 28 to the UN security council on Iran's compliance with demands to halt uranium enrichment.
"We will decide our reaction depending on the contents of the report," he told ITAR-TASS, adding that "consultations" would follow.
Iran itself remains defiant. "We are not scared of the US threats," defence minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar said on Thursday. "If Iran is faced with a real threat, it is ready to overcome that."
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