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UNITED NATIONS, Mar 23 (Reuters) - Russia and China have quietly made clear to the Iranian government they want Tehran to change its approach to the nuclear issue and accept a U.N. atomic fuel offer,abercrombie, Western diplomats said on Tuesday.
Russia's and China's coordinated diplomatic approaches took place in Tehran around the beginning of March, according to several Western U.N. Security Council diplomats.
They said it was significant that two powers seen as blocking Western efforts to get tough on Tehran appeared to be using their influence behind the scenes to ratchet up the pressure on the Islamic Republic.
"Russia and China had a demarche in Tehran to try and get them to shift their position on the nuclear issue, particularly with regard to the Tehran Research Reactor," one diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
"The Russians and Chinese were saying that their position (on a new sanctions resolution) would depend on Iran's response to the demarches."
Another Western diplomat confirmed the Russian and Chinese "demarche," a formal diplomatic approach that can be anything from a gentle expression of displeasure to an angry protest.
"The Russians said they got nothing from Iran," the second diplomat said. "The Chinese said they got a response from the Iranians to wait a little longer and they will come up with something. But they (China) didn't get anything in the end."
Russian frustration with Iran has been growing since Tehran snubbed a U.N. nuclear watchdog plan under which the Iranians would ship most of their low-enriched uranium to Russia and France for further enrichment and processing into fuel assemblies for a Tehran reactor for medical isotopes.
Last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Iran was letting the opportunity for normal cooperation slip away.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that Moscow may support new sanctions on Iran,casque beats, RIA news agency reported.
CHINA AGREES TO DISCUSS SANCTIONS
On March 4,abercrombie and fitch, Russian and Chinese U.N. envoys used a meeting of the Security Council to publicly urge Iran to accept the U.N. fuel plan. That proposal was meant to buy time for negotiations among the six powers and Iran by moving potential nuclear bomb material abroad.
Iran rejects Western allegations that its nuclear program is a quest to develop atomic weapons and has ignored five U.N. resolutions ordering it to halt its enrichment program.
While China has urged Tehran to accept the International Atomic Energy Agency plan, it has repeatedly said the time was not right for new sanctions against Iran. Beijing has yet to react to a sanctions proposal drafted by Washington and circulated to Russia, China and the three European powers.
But China's refusal to engage in what Western diplomats described as "substantive discussions" on a new round of sanctions against Tehran may have come to an end, envoys said.
"The Chinese have finally agreed to participate in a conference call this week to discuss sanctions," said a Western diplomat. That call, among senior foreign ministry officials from the five permanent Security Council members and Germany, was tentatively scheduled for Wednesday.
"The Iranians clearly haven't come around after China's and Russia's demarches,burberry pas cher, so perhaps the Chinese are accepting that the time to discuss sanctions has come," one diplomat said, adding that "you never know with the Chinese."
The latest U.S. sanctions draft includes a proposed a ban on new Iranian banks abroad and foreign banks in Iran as well as an arms embargo with international inspections similar to one in place against North Korea,beats by dre, Western diplomats said.
It would also urge "vigilance" against Iran's central bank, ban insurance and reinsurance of shipments to and from Iran and would blacklist several Iranian shipping firms.
In Washington, a leading senator said the U.S. Congress should not finish legislation to squeeze Iran's gasoline suppliers while the Obama administration is seeking another U.N. sanctions resolution.
"I think for Congress to get out ahead at this moment would be complicated,louboutin," Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee,burberry, told reporters outside the Senate. "The object here is to be effective,doudoune moncler, not first."
Russia and China backed three rounds of sanctions against Iran but worked to dilute the measures before they were put to a Security Council vote. Western diplomats expect them to do the same if they agree to negotiate on new sanctions.
(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell in Washington; Editing by Chris Wilson and Peter Cooney)
Russian (L and R) and Iranian operators monitor the nuclear power plant unit in Bushehr, about 1,215 km (755 miles) south of Tehran, November 30,abercrombie france, 2009.
