China urged Iran on Thursday to "fully cooperate" with the U.N. nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency. "China hopes Iran will fully cooperate with the agency and clarify the unresolved questions about its nuclear programme and will restore the international community's confidence in Iran," said Qin Gang, a spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry. Time is running out for a breakthrough before March 6, when the IAEA is to discuss a report on Iran's nuclear activities. Tehran says its nuclear plans are entirely peaceful, but the United States and the European Union trio of Britain, France and Germany say Iran hopes to gain the ability to make nuclear weapons. The Western powers may use the March 6 meeting to push Iran towards the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions, according to a report of Reuters. Qin said China believes "there is still scope to peacefully resolve the Iran nuclear issue through diplomatic means". He urged Iran to continue negotiating with Russia about Moscow's compromise plan that would allow Iran to produce nuclear power but not reprocess its own atomic materials.
But Qin placed the onus on Tehran to mollify its critics by freezing any nuclear enrichment activities. "We hope that Iran will restore its freeze on all activities related to uranium enrichment, creating conditions to appropriately resolve the Iran nuclear issues through negotiations," he said. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said the U.N. Security Council should be ready to act to ensure Iran does not develop nuclear weapons once the IAEA refers the matter to the council.