Iran says China, Russia to block sanctions

ISN SECURITY WATCH (Tuesday, 02 May 2006: 11.39 CET) – Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was quoted on Tuesday as saying that Russia and China have made an official pledge to Iran that they will not back sanctions or military action over the Islamic republic's nuclear program, Reuters reports.

When asked by the Kayhan newspaper how far China and Russia were willing to go in backing the US, which has called for the imposition of a sanctions regime, Mottaki said, "The thing these two countries have officially told us and expressed in diplomatic negotiations is their opposition to sanctions and military attacks."

"At the current juncture, I personally believe no sanctions or anything like that will be on the agenda of the [UN] Security Council," he said.

Western diplomats say that Russia and China will back a UN resolution calling on Iran to end uranium reprocessing activities. However, the two countries are likely to quash any attempt to push a sanctions package through the UN Security Council, where both hold permanent veto powers, Reuters reports.

UN ambassadors from France, Britain and the US are expected to introduce a resolution this week that will legally require Iran to comply with a UN demand that it end uranium enrichment. They are likely to push for the imposition of a targeted sanctions regime avoiding.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced last month that his country had mastered the full nuclear fuel cycle. Plans were also announced for the rapid expansion of uranium enrichment activities.

Representatives of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council will hold talks in Paris on Tuesday in an effort to establish a common position on the Iranian nuclear program. A further meeting of foreign minister from the five countries and Germany is scheduled for 9 May in New York.

(By ISN Security Watch staff, AP, CNN, Reuters)