Big Security Council members agree on Iran
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-17 08:13

Russia and China have resisted referral but also have shown increasing impatience with Tehran's defiance.

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, said he believed the two would eventually agree to refer Iran to the Security Council.

"I am confident. Otherwise, I will not be working as I am working," Solana said after meeting U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

A spokesman for Britain's Foreign Office, speaking on condition of anonymity in keeping with government policy, said representatives of the six nations who met for seven hours in London agreed "on the importance of Iran returning to the full suspension and negotiating process."

Putin said his proposal did not mean Russia's strategy differed from the one the Western powers are pursuing.

"Russia, Germany, our European partners and the United States have very close positions on the Iranian problem," he said after meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

China made no comment after the talks in London, but took a cautious tone earlier Monday.

"All relevant sides should remain restrained and stick to solving the Iranian nuclear issue through negotiations," the Foreign Ministry in Beijing said in a statement.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who was not at the meeting, said after it ended that London also wanted Iran to return to talks.

"What we hope is that as a result of this and other diplomatic pressure  the Iranians will come back to the negotiating table ... and will recognize the good intent of the European three," he told Channel 4 news, referring to Britain, France and Germany, which negotiated with Tehran on behalf of the European Union for 2 1/2 tense years.

Straw said the "onus is on Iran" to prove its program is peaceful. He said the international community's confidence had been "sorely undermined by a history of concealment and deception" by the clerical regime.

In a related development, Iranian state radio reported Monday that the country had allocated the equivalent of $215 million for the construction of what would be its second and third nuclear power plants.

Economic sanctions targeting Iran's oil and gas exports are thought unlikely. Iran is OPEC's second-largest producer and preventing it from doing business could disrupt the world's energy markets.

Russian experts also are helping build a nuclear reactor at Bushehr in Iran. But Moscow has shown growing impatience with Tehran for not accepting its proposal to supply nuclear fuel for Iranian power stations.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last week that the Kremlin has not ruled out backing Iran's referral to the Security Council, although it said previously it saw no need for such action.

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