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LONDON, Jan. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- Officials from the
United States, Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia gather in London on
Monday for closed-door talks on Iran's resumption of nuclear activities.
Senior diplomats from the U.S., Russia and China will join representatives from Britain, France and Germany for
the meeting. They will meet behind closed doors at the Foreign Office in
Whitehall.
A British Foreign Office spokesman told Xinhua this
is a "confidential diplomatic meeting" on Iran. He refused to give further
details.
Tensions mounted last week after Iran resumed nuclear
fuel research. But Tehran defended that it would not go as far as making
weapons.
Britain, France and Germany have already started the
moves to refer Iran to the United Nations Security Council for possible
sanctions over Tehran's decision. They said that two-and-a-half years of efforts
to resolve the issue had come to a "dead end."
European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana
has insisted that the use of military action against Iran is currently"not in
the mind of anyone."
On Sunday, Iran warned of soaring oil prices if
sanctions were introduced.
For more than two years, Britain, France and Germany,
with support from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), have been
engaged in lengthy negotiations with Iran aimed at obtaining guarantees that it
does not seek to develop nuclear weapons using the nuclear energy program as a
cover.
The U.S. accuses Iran of running a covert nuclear
arms program.Iran, however, has repeatedly said that its nuclear work is purely
designed to meet its energy needs and insisted on the right to develop a full
nuclear fuel cycle. Enditem |