Iran's top nuclear negotiator heads to China for talks
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-26 09:00

Iran's top nuclear negotiator was to meet Chinese officials in Beijing on Thursday following talks with Russian counterparts this week, as Tehran seeks to fend off European efforts to have it brought before the U.N. Security Council.

Iran's High Council of National Security Secretary Ali Larijani was expected to arrive in Beijing early Thursday and was scheduled to meet with top Chinese officials, a statement from the Iranian Embassy said Wednesday, without giving additional details. He departs Friday.

China says it favors diplomacy in dealing with the Iranian nuclear issue but the United States and Europe have been lobbying Beijing to take a tougher stand, and sought its support for a European-led drive to have the issue brought to the council.

Larijani met with Russian Security Council chief Igor Ivanov in Moscow on Tuesday, and was positive about a Russian proposal to allow Tehran to enrich its uranium in Russia.

The West fears Iran wants to develop a nuclear bomb but Tehran says its intentions are peaceful and that it wants only civilian nuclear energy. Uranium enrichment is a possible precursor to making atomic weapons.

Iran removed International Atomic Energy Agency seals from equipment January 10, ending a 15-month moratorium, and announced it would restart research on nuclear fuel including what it described as small-scale enrichment. The move led Germany, Britain and France to call for the February 2 emergency board session.

With little more than a week until the February 2 meeting of the IAEA's 35-nation board, high-level international diplomacy has intensified.

Larijani told reporters at a press conference in Moscow on Wednesday that Tehran welcomes Moscow's offer to have Iran's uranium enriched in Russia. But, he said, the proposal needs more work and threatened to renew full-scale uranium enrichment if his country is referred to the U.N. Security Council.

Some critics say that Tehran is using the proposal, under which Iranian uranium would be enriched in Russia and returned to Iran for use in the country's reactors, to stall for time as diplomatic pressure over its nuclear activities mounts.

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