Russia, China Defy US on Iran
Russia and China have rejected proposals from the US and other veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council for a statement demanding Iran clears up suspicions about its nuclear program, diplomats said yesterday.

The dispute raises the threat of an impasse in the Security Council and means that the US, Britain and France may not get their wish for strong action by the UN body.

A draft text written by Britain and France and backed by the US would call on Iran to "without delay re-establish full, sustained and verifiable suspension of all enrichment-related and reprocessing (for plutonium) activities".

It would also urge the IAEA to "report to the council within 14 days" on Iranian compliance.

The US and European nations believe the text could further isolate Iran and help compel it to abandon uranium enrichment, a process that can produce fuel for a civilian nuclear reactor or fissile material for an atomic bomb.

But British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Britain also wanted the Security Council to go one step at a time, leaving the door open to restart negotiations with Tehran if it reversed course and expressed a willingness to suspend its uranium enrichment program.

"If the Iranian regime chooses not to heed the concerns of the international community, it's going to damage the interests of the Iranian people," Mr Straw said.

Envoys of Britain, China, France, Russia and the US - the five veto-wielding, permanent members of the council - met yesterday at the US mission to the UN in New York.

US ambassador John Bolton said the envoys would meet again overnight. "We have a sense of urgency about this ... There is a need to move expeditiously."

Mr Bolton acknowledged that differences remained in the Security Council on how to proceed.

"We've been trying to get this issue into the Security Council for close to four years and other countries, including other permanent members, have not had that view," he said. "It's no surprise that different views remain."

Iran, meanwhile, sent more mixed signals about its intentions.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran's existence depended on nuclear development, but Russia reported that Iranian diplomats had asked for more consultations.

Only a day earlier, talks on Russia's Western-backed offer to host Iran's uranium enrichment program collapsed when Tehran rejected Moscow's demand to suspend enrichment activities at home.

"Contradictory signals are coming from Tehran," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. "One day they reject it, the other day they don't."

Iran insists that its nuclear program is peaceful.