US lobbies Russia, China on Iran

US President Barack Obama

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/209937.html

US President Barack Obama is seeking China and Russia's support for pressing Tehran into abandoning its nuclear activities after the new IAEA report on Iran received a cool reception.

After International Atomic Energy Agency' Director General Yukiya Amano submitted his latest report on Iran's nuclear activities to the 35 members of the Board of Governors last week, the US and its allies called for imposing more sanctions on Tehran.

Russia and China, however, rejected the call for further sanctions as their diplomats expressed "the mutual conviction that the application of new, additional sanctions against Iran will not lead to the desired result," in a meeting in Moscow.

Obama's talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Chinese President Hu Jintao on Saturday was purportedly aimed at shaping a “common response" to Iran's nuclear activities and ensuring that Tehran lives by "international rules and norms," the Associated Press reported.

Neither one of the two leaders, however, publicly supported Obama's positions.

The IAEA in its latest report accused Iran of conducting activities related to developing nuclear weapons before 2003, adding that these activities “may still be ongoing.”

This is while Amano's visit to Washington for talks with US officials before the publication of the report had already raised serious questions about its objectivity and sincerity.

Iran has dismissed the report as "unbalanced, unprofessional and prepared with political motivation and under political pressure mostly by the US."

The United States, Israel, and some of their allies accuse Tehran of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear program.

Iran argues that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the IAEA, has the right to develop and acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

Iranian officials have promised a crushing response to any military strike against the country, warning that any such measure could result in a war that would spread beyond the Middle East.