China Warns Against Iran Sanctions

Official: Plan To Enrich Iran's Uranium In Russia 'Could Be Helpful'

(AP) 
China's hesitation over the Security Council referral has prompted suggestions that Beijing wants to avoid angering Iran, a major oil source for its energy-hungry economy.

The West fears that Iran's uranium enrichment program is a precursor to making nuclear weapons, but Tehran says its intentions are peaceful and that it wants only civilian nuclear energy.

On Wednesday, Larijani met with Russian Security Council chief Igor Ivanov in Moscow.

He later told reporters 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.

In Washington, U.S. President George W. Bush said it was "important for us to exhaust all diplomacy" in dealing with Iran.

The Russian proposal offered the best chance for resolving the impasse, Bush told The Wall Street Journal, but if such efforts don't work, "clearly, there's a set of different options available through the Security Council, and now we're working with our friends to review those options."

Iran removed International Atomic Energy Agency seals from equipment Jan. 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 Feb. 2 emergency board session.