Tuesday, June 13 2006 17:42 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Vienna: China and Russia have rejected joining the West in a joint statement urging Iran to halt uranium enrichment, in diplomatic maneouvering today ahead of a debate at the UN nuclear watchdog.

Diplomats played down the significance of this however, as China and Russia have already joined Britain, France, Germany and the United States in a ministerial agreement on June 1 calling on Iran to halt enrichment and join in talks on guaranteeing it will not make nuclear weapons.

"The effort didn't work to do a joint statement in Vienna," a senior European diplomat told sources.

But the diplomat said the six world powers have never managed to get an EU-3 (Britain, France and Germany) plus three statement in Vienna," at meetings of the watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which oversees cooperation by nations with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

A vigorous debate on Iran but no resolution is expected at this week's IAEA meeting of its 35-nation board of governors, with the Iranian issue expected to come up Wednesday or Thursday.

The EU-3 are expected to issue a statement of their own, with each of the six countries that have made the offer to Iran issuing individual statements.

Iranian allies Russia and China are both reluctant to threaten sanctions against Iran for nuclear work which the United States says show that Tehran wants to develop atomic weapons.