Russia and China voiced their opposition to a new round of sanctions against Iran in a meeting in Moscow Thursday. The two nations expressed “the mutual conviction that the application of new, additional sanctions against Iran will not lead to the desired result,” Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Yukiya Amano's latest report on Iran's nuclear activities was distributed to the 35 members of the Board of Governors of the agency. The IAEA accused Iran of conducting activities related to developing nuclear weapons before 2003. Iran rejected the report and called it biased and politically motivated.

China’s Foreign Ministry had earlier rejected imposing additional sanctions against Iran. “We always believe that dialogue and cooperation is the right way to solve the Iranian nuclear issue,” said spokesman Hong Lei.

The main priorities, according to Hong, must be to step up diplomatic efforts and promote dialogue between Iran and six countries, namely, the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany. Hong has also called on the IAEA to take a fair and objective stance, commit itself to working with Iran to clarify related issues.

It is well known that China is more dependent on Iranian oil than the West.

Reuven Rivlin, the speaker of the Knesset, Israel's Parliament, said, I heard the Chinese stance that there is no need for a reaction to Iran’s nuclear arms, because they must learn the subject. This attempt to buy time, when there is no time, is just a bluff.

“Taking care of Iranian nuclear weapons is the whole free world’s responsibility, and not that of Israel,” he added. “However, we cannot stand silently before our enemies.”

Four rounds of sanctions already have been imposed on Iran over its nuclear program by the U.N. Security Council.

Nuclear weapons Israel Germany Germany