New Delhi, September 21
The Foreign Ministers of India, China and Russia, who held their annual trilateral meeting today at the Chinese Permanent Mission in New York, decided to work together on the issue of Iran.
The Ministers reviewed the latest developments on the Iranian nuclear issue, expressed their preference for a consensus approach and agreed that their delegations at the IAEA in Vienna should remain in close touch and work together, according to the Ministry of External Affairs here.
The convergence among New Delhi, Beijing and Moscow on the Iran issue is significant. It comes in the backdrop of a flurry of activities on the Iran front.
In Vienna today, Russia stiffly opposed a European Union drive to haul Iran before the U N Security Council over its nuclear plans.
Russia warned against escalating the standoff with Tehran as the EU circulated a draft resolution calling on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) governing board to report Iran’s secretive nuclear programme to the Security Council, which could impose sanctions on Tehran.
Russia took a strident stand that tit would be counter-productive to report the matter to the UNSC when Iran had been cooperating with the IAEA, had not been enriching uranium and observing a moratorium, while the IAEA inspectors were working in the country.
Russia is building a $1 billion nuclear reactor for Iran, has massive economic stakes in Tehran and sees it as a key ally in the Middle East.
Russia has also refused to budge at a meeting of foreign ministers of the Group of Eight countries — the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada — who all tried to convince Russia of the need to take Iran to the Security Council for hiding its nuclear fuel programme from the IAEA for 18 years.
Iran is understood to have told India, Russia and China that it might restart its uranium enrichment plant at Natanz and would end short-notice inspections under the IAEA’s Additional Protocol, if reported.
External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lvavrov agreed to have the next meeting in New Delhi in 2006 at a mutually convenient date. They endorsed the proposal, made by India, to convene a trilateral Business Conference, which could coincide, if possible, with the meeting of the Foreign Ministers.
