The United States, Australia and Japan on Saturday expressed serious concern over Iran's uranium enrichment programme during the inaugural session of trilateral security talks here.
They also urged North Korea to return to six-party talks on its nuclear crisis and praised China's constructive engagement in the Asia Pacific region.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and their Japanese counterpart Taro Aso said they had discussed UN action against Iran.
"We have grave concerns about Iran's nuclear programme and discussed the need for concerted action at the UN Security Council to convince Iran to promptly suspend all enrichment-related activities," they said in a joint communiqué.
Iraq was also discussed but Downer refused to give details on a possible timetable for the withdrawal of Australian or Japanese troops.
"There was obviously discussions about many aspects of the Iraq issue and I am not getting into those kinds of issues publicly," he told reporters afterwards.
The joint statement urged Iran to return to talks with the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Authority, and comply with its demands. "We've had extensive discussions about Iran. There is no doubt about it, all of our countries are very concerned about the situation," Downer said. He praised China's role in attempting to convince North Korea to return to international talks on its nuclear programme.
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