China urges further talk to resolve Iran issue
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-02-07 19:42

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gestures as he enters a room to meet Nigerian Foreign Minister Oluyemi Adeniji at the Presidential palace in Tehran, February 7, 2006. [Reuters]

Iran said in January it would resume nuclear enrichment, but said the material was for peaceful power.

But the United States and European Union have said Iran's nuclear program appears pitched toward eventually making weapons, and they have proposed U.N. sanctions to deter Iran's nuclear activities.

Iran responded defiantly to the IAEA resolution, telling it to remove some monitoring equipment from its nuclear facilities on Monday.

Iran said it would limit future cooperation with nuclear inspectors to basic obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

In late January, China supported a Russian compromise plan to allow Iran to pursue nuclear power, but only so long as enrichment activities took place on Russian soil, blocking any efforts to divert the nuclear fuel to weapons development.

On Monday, Kong said China stood by the Russian proposal. "The key is for each side to have a constructive attitude," he said.