Deep divisions exist among the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council over how to proceed against Iran. China and Russia oppose sanctions linked to suspicions that Tehran is seeking nuclear weapons, while the United States, Britain and France want selective penalties applied if diplomacy fails.
Each has veto power over council decisions, and their meeting in Berlin last week again exposed their split over Iran. Beijing and Moscow insisted that sanctions would only provoke Tehran and fan instability in the energy-rich Persian Gulf region - which supplies critically important crude oil to China and other users in Asia.
In rejecting sanctions, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Dai Bingguo made a thinly veiled criticism of the current conflict in Iraq, caused by the US-led invasion in 2003. He said: 'There has already been enough turmoil in the Middle East. We do not want to see new turmoil being introduced to the region.'
A day before the Berlin meeting, the security council, after three weeks of wrangling, approved a watered-down statement that gave Iran 30 days to end its uranium enrichment programme. The resolution called on the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to report back before the end of this month on Iran's response.
Both China and Russia resisted US pressure for language that would have called Iran's nuclear activities a threat to peace and security. The most sensitive of these activities were concealed from the IAEA for 18 years, until revealed by an Iranian opposition group in 2002. 'Before we call any situation a threat, we need facts, especially in a region like the Middle East, where so many things are happening,' said Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister. 'So far, they have not been provided.'
But Iran has cut international co-operation in nuclear matters and resumed enrichment-related work. So it is unlikely that the IAEA's next report will go much beyond what it has said previously: that it cannot prove Tehran has a weapons programme, but can't be certain it hasn't.
