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Tue 11 Nov 2006China, Russia seek to remove military option from Iran issueUnited Nations: As the Bush administration struggles to rally international pressure on Iran to halt its nuclear programme, China and Russia are working to take the most powerful diplomatic weapon off the table: the military option.Moscow and Beijing insist that a United Nations sanctions resolution under negotiation in New York should avoid language that could be used as a pretext for a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities. In this they have received the tacit backing of the United States' key European partners, Britain, France and Germany.