A senior United States politician has said he doubted whether the Bush Administration would use military force against Iran in the dispute over Tehran's nuclear programme.
Senator Chuck Hagel, a member of the powerful US Senate Committees on Foreign Relations and Intelligence said military action was not an option.
Earlier, China announced it was sending an envoy on arms control to Tehran and Moscow to try to defuse the row over Tehran' s uranium enrichment programme.
The Chinese foreign ministry said it hoped Iran and countries opposing its nuclear ambitions would exercise restraint and not take measures that would worsen relations.
This morning, the Iranian government said it would ignore renewed international calls to halt uranium enrichment.
ElBaradei in Tehran for talks
Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog is holding talks in Iran today.
The visit by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, comes less than 48 hours after Iran declared it had enriched uranium to a level used in nuclear power stations and would press ahead with large-scale production.
Despite calls from the international community, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his country would not back down from what it calls its national right to enrich fuel for civilian purposes.
Tehran has consistently denied accusations by Western nations that it wants to develop nuclear weapons.
On his arrival in Tehran last night, Mr ElBaradei said he hoped to persuade the authorities to comply with UN Security Council requests.
