Russia To Host New Iran Nuclear Talks With US, EU, China

Dow Jones Newswires:

Russia will host another round of talks next week with the U.S., the European Union and China on Iran's nuclear program, the Foreign Ministry said Friday. The talks will be held Tuesday in Moscow, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Krivtsov. READ MORE

China said Thursday that Cui Tiankai, assistant to Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, would visit Iran and Russia on April 14-18.

Russia and China, which have strong economic ties with Iran, have opposed the U.S. push for international sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.

U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns will also be in Moscow Monday for a meeting of political directors of the Group of Eight, the U.S. Embassy said.

Mohamed ElBaradei, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, visited Tehran Thursday and pushed Iranian officials to suspend uranium enrichment until questions over Tehran's nuclear program have been resolved. But Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran will not retreat "one iota" on its uranium enrichment.

Iran insists on its right to enrich uranium as part of a civilian power generation program, but the U.S. and others accuse Tehran of covertly pursuing a nuclear weapons bid and demand a halt to all enrichment activities.