The FINANCIAL — According to RIA Novosti, Russia and China hold "the most realistic" position on Iran's nuclear program, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said on January 21.
"Among all countries of the 'Group of Six' [permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany] the positions of Russia and China [on Iran's nuclear issue] are the most realistic," Mohammad Ali Hosseini said.
He said Iran would continue constructive cooperation with the international nuclear watchdog.
"Certain countries would like to undermine the authority of the [International Atomic Energy] Agency, which has not recorded any deviations from Iran's peaceful nuclear activity," he said.
On January 22, foreign ministers from the six nations are to meet in Berlin to consider a UN Security Council draft resolution on sanctions against Iran.
Two sets of UN Security Council sanctions are currently in place against Tehran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment. Further rounds of more stringent sanctions have so far been blocked by China and Russia.
Moscow has said it is determined to resolve the problem through political and diplomatic means and stressed the significance of coordinated action in the six-nation format.
Despite Western suspicions of an atomic weapons program, Iran insists that its nuclear work has purely peaceful goals, and has pledged to clear up all remaining questions over the program by late February.
Discussion about this post