President Barack Obama's drive for tougher sanctions on Iran gained momentum yesterday in talks with Chinese president Hu Jintao as a US summit on nuclear security got under way.
Mr Obama stressed to his Chinese counterpart the need to act urgently against Iran's nuclear programme, and Mr Hu agreed that Beijing would help craft a UN resolution, a US official said afterward.
Their 90-minute encounter came at the start of a two-day Washington, DC, summit of nearly 50 countries that Mr Obama has called to highlight the global threat of nuclear terrorism and to agree an action plan to prevent weapons-grade atomic material from falling into the hands of terrorists.
Ukraine provided the first example by agreeing to give up its highly enriched uranium.
Iran's nuclear programme, which the West fears is a cover to build an atomic bomb, is not on the agenda of the summit, but the presence of so many world leaders in one place gave Mr Obama an opportunity to again make his case for fresh sanctions to be imposed on Tehran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment.
China has close economic ties with Iran and has so far been reluctant to agree to tougher sanctions. US and Chinese officials who briefed reporters after the Mr Hu-Obama talks described a positive, constructive atmosphere on Iran.
Mr Hu told Mr Obama that China and the United States shared the same overall goal on reining in Iran's nuclear programme, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
The comments confirmed China's recent decision to join discussions with world powers on Iran, but they did not indicate a new willingness to embrace harsher sanctions, such as ones that would target the Islamic Republic's energy sector.
Mr Hu's agreement to attend the summit was perceived as a positive sign in Washington after US-Chinese relations were strained by Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama, China's Internet censorship, and US pressure over China's currency.