Chinese Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei on Tuesday called on relevant parties to step up their diplomatic efforts toward resuming at an early date negotiations over the Iranian nuclear issue.

The six nations leading international efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue -- the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, held a closed-door ministerial meeting at UN Headquarters with representatives of some Arab countries in the Gulf and Middle East region.

Speaking at the gathering, he expounded China's principled stand on resolving the Iranian nuclear issue peacefully through negotiations.

He expressed hope that relevant parties will further step up their diplomatic efforts, bring creativity into full play and display necessary flexibility, so as to restart relevant negotiations at an early date.

The United States and its allies have accused Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program. Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

To date, the UN Security Council has adopted three resolutions slapping sanctions and urging the Islamic Republic to suspend uranium enrichment activities.

(Xinhua News Agency December 17, 2008)