P5+1 meeting on Iran ‘inconclusive’

Diplomats from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (P5+1) have ended a meeting over Iran’s nuclear energy program without reaching an agreement.

“We had a very sober assessment,” Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters. “It is inconclusive in the sense that we did not make any decisions right away,” he added, AFP reported.

The P5+1 members — Britain, France, Russia, China and the United States plus Germany — had come together to discuss possible new sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Russia and China reportedly opposed any new measures, while Beijing sent a lower-level diplomat in a signal of its reluctance to back tougher sanctions pushed by the West.

The US is seeking to impose a new round of sanctions, targeting certain high-ranking officials from Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps and some of its affiliated companies.

Washington and its allies accuse Tehran of pursuing a military nuclear program. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), however, has repeatedly said that it has found no evidence supporting the allegation.

The IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities, confirming the non-diversion of nuclear material in country’s functional and under-construction plants.

Iran also denies the allegation, saying that it needs nuclear energy to produce electricity to meet the country’s growing demand.