BEIJING, April 13 (RIA Novosti) - Cui Tiankai, an aide to the Chinese Foreign Minister, will visit Moscow and Tehran on April 14-18 for consultations on Iran's nuclear program following its announcement of successful low-grade uranium enrichment, a ministry spokesman said Wednesday.
Cui Tiankai will meet with Russian and Iranian officials to discuss diplomatic solutions to the international standoff over Iran's nuclear ambitions, Liu Jianchao told a news briefing.
Russia and China, who are both permanent members of the UN Security Council, on Wednesday expressed concern over Iran's announcement that it had managed to produce low-enriched uranium on a laboratory scale, but reiterated their opposition to any punitive measures against the country.
The other three council members (Britain, France and the United States) demanded that Tehran immediately halt all enrichment activities, and threatened to take forward a binding, militarily enforceable resolution if it fails to comply.
The West accuses Iran of pursuing a covert program to develop nuclear weapons, but the Iranians deny the accusations, insisting that their nuclear program is purely civilian and that they have the right to produce nuclear fuel on their soil.
On Tuesday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared that Iran had joined the club of countries possessing nuclear technology by successfully enriching uranium to a level sufficient for use in nuclear power plants.
