LONDON, January 16 (RIA Novosti, Alexander Smotrov) - Representatives of Europe, Russia, China and the United States will meet in London Monday to discuss the escalating dispute around Iran's nuclear research, the UK Foreign Office said Monday
The trio of European nations - Britain, Germany, and France - has been leading efforts to find a solution to differences over Tehran's contentious nuclear research, but last week struck a pessimistic note when it said talks had reached a "dead end."
A Foreign Office official said today's meeting would be a regular round of diplomatic consultations and no statements or news conferences had been planned after it finished.
According to the source, high-ranking officials from the six countries' foreign ministries will discuss the situation around Iran's nuclear program and the results of a January 12 meeting between the EU trio and EU High Commissioner for Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana.
Some Western media earlier cited "European diplomatic sources" as saying the London meeting could fix a date 35-member Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog, to raise the issue of referring the Iranian matter to the UN Security Council, which could be as early as the beginning of February. The latter body has the power to impose sanctions the Islamic Republic if it is found to be in breach of its international commitments.
Although Russia has consistently defended Iran's right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, officials have voiced their concern over Tehran's decision last Tuesday to restart its nuclear research after a two-year moratorium at three facilities.
Some nations fear that research into uranium enrichment will be used to develop nuclear weapons, though Iran has denied that it has such intention.
