Wednesday, March 15 2006 16:50 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Tehran: Iran today (Mar 15 2006) urged key UN Security Council members Russia and China to defend its nuclear programme as the world body meets to address the Iranian atomic case, the foreign ministry said.

"We hope that Russia, China, permanent and non-permanent members of the Security Council pay heed that defending Iran is rather defending international organizations, collective work and multilateralism," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told sources.

The UN Security Council will hold formal consultations on the Iranian nuclear issue Friday.

The five veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council are divided over how to address the Iranian crisis with Russia and China, which have close economic and energy ties with Tehran, opposing sanctions and insisting on a central role for the UN nuclear watchdog.

The "Russians have said they will not compromise over Iran. This is defending the (International Atomic Energy) Agency," Asefi said.

The Security Council members are trying to agree on a statement that would urge Iran to comply with IAEA demands that it halt uranium enrichment and allay suspicions it is hiding a covert nuclear weapons programme.

A draft statement discussed by the members yesterday calls on Tehran to suspend all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities.

But Asefi reaffirmed that Iran would not suspend uranium enrichment if demanded by the Council, saying "research is clearly our undeniable right. Nobody can make that request and we cannot go back on research."