Senior Russian and Chinese officials are due in Tehran as early as Wednesday to stress international concern at Iran’s nuclear programme and urge co-operation ahead of an expected reporting of the case to the UN Security Council this week.
The visit by officials from two countries sympathetic to Iran follows an agreement reached in London late on Monday night between all five permanent members of the council – the US, UK, France, Russia and China – to put the nuclear dispute on the council’s agenda but postpone any action against Iran for another month.