Big powers cancel meeting to impose sanctions on Iran as China pulls out

London: A meeting of world powers on tougher sanctions on Iran has been cancelled after China pulled out, European diplomatic sources said on Friday, revealing tensions after a key report into Tehran's atomic activities.

Political directors from Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Russia and China were due to meet on Monday to assess a report about Tehran's nuclear programme by the UN atomic watchdog and from the European Union's foreign policy chief.

"There's no meeting scheduled now because the Chinese are saying that they can't make the date," said a European diplomatic source. "I think it's partly related to genuine travel difficulties, but also linked to resistance on the broader question of sanctions from that quarter." Iran has refused to halt uranium enrichment despite two successive UN sanctions resolutions and denies the West's allegations that it wants to make atomic bombs, saying its programme is for peaceful power generation.

The so-called "P5+1" group - the permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany - have struggled to maintain consensus over hitting Iran with harder sanctions.

A report by the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran had made important strides towards clarifying past nuclear activities but disclosures remained incomplete and it had also expanded uranium enrichment.