WASHINGTON, January 28 (RIA Novosti, Arkady Orlov) - The United States Senate has called on Russia and China to speed up their review of a report on Iran's failure to meet UN Security Council demands on its nuclear program.
A resolution on the issue was put forward by a group of 20 senators led by Republican Bill Frist and accepted unanimously Friday.
The United States, with the backing of some other countries, has long been pushing to refer Iran's "nuclear file" to the UN Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions if it finds Iran to have been in breach of its international commitments.
In the resolution, the Senate calls on all UN Security Council members, in particular Russia and China, to act quickly in considering reports on the issue, and the heads of the IAEA at their February 2 meeting to recommend that the nuclear file go to the Security Council.
China supports a Russian proposal to enrich Iranian uranium on its territory.
"This proposal represents a good opportunity to allay tensions around the Iranian nuclear problem," a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said.
Kong Quan added that negotiations were the best way to resolve the problem, which escalated after Tehran announced it was ending its two-year moratorium on nuclear research on January 10.
The Chinese spokesman said Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani had arrived in Beijing on Thursday morning. He is expected to hold talks with Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing to discuss the Iranian problem and bilateral relations.
Russia has consistently defended Iran's right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and is building an $800-million plant in the country. But the decision to end the moratorium raised concerns in Moscow and led officials to express their "disappointment" at the move.
Some countries, led by the United States, suspect Tehran of pursuing a secret weapons program and have been pushing the referral of the Iranian nuclear file to the UN Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions on the Islamic Republic if it is found to have been in breach of its international commitments. Iran has consistently stated that it only wants nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
Global attention has now turned to China, which plays a crucial role in the standoff around the Islamic Republic's nuclear programs because it has commercial interests in the country and as a veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council could block any moves to impose sanctions on the country if the matter gets that far.
