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DJ UPDATE:Iran Pres Says Ready For China Oil, Gas Deals-IRNA(Comtex Business Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)LONDON, Feb 26, 2006 (Dow Jones Commodities News Select via Comtex) --(Updates an item timed at 1228 GMT with Iran-Russian uranium enrichment joint venture.) Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his country is poised to sign oil and gas deals with China after meeting China's deputy foreign minister, the official Islamic Republic News Agency said Sunday. "Iran is ready to invest or participate in oil, gas and transportation industries with China and the country can be Iran's first trade partner in near future," IRNA quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. The Iranian president met China's deputy foreign minister in Tehran Saturday. No timeframe was given in IRNA's report as to when any conclusive deals could be signed between the two countries. Speculation has mounted in recent months that Iran, isolated by the U.S. and Europe over its nuclear program, was aiming to soon seal a multibillion-dollar oil and gas deal with China, whose voracious appetite for oil and natural gas is potentially undermining U.S. efforts to isolate Iran. The U.S. has been concerned China and Russia wouldn't support slapping any U.N. sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program because of their economic ties with the Islamic republic. The Iran-China meeting Saturday came as Iranian nuclear chief Gholamreza Aghazadeh said Sunday that Moscow and Tehran had agreed in principle to set up a joint uranium enrichment venture, according to Russian news reports. The U.N. Security Council, of which China and Russia are members, is scheduled to discuss Iran's nuclear program - and possible sanctions - after the International Atomic Energy Agency meets in Vienna March 6. China's deputy foreign minister was quoted as saying that China put a lot of priority into establishing trade relations with Iran. "China attaches much importance to its relations with Iran and is for expansion of trade ties between the two countries," IRNA quoted him as saying. Iran and China signed a memorandum of understanding in 2004 in which it was agreed that Iran would allow China's Sinopec Group to develop Iran's Yadavaran oil field in exchange for agreeing to buy 10 million metric tons of Iranian liquefied natural gas a year for 25 years. Sunday, Aghazadeh, who heads Iran's Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said Iran and Russia agreed in principle on a Russian proposal to host Iran's uranium enrichment program, the ITAR-Tass and Interfax news agencies reported. Previous talks on Moscow's uranium enrichment proposal - supported by the U.S. and the European Union - haven't brought any visible breakthrough. Russia's nuclear chief Sergei Kiriyenko said Moscow will insist on keeping the Iranian nuclear issue within the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, RIA Novosti news agency said. -By Spencer Swartz, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 207 842 9357; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires 02-26-06 0802ET |