Russia pledges to work in parallel with EU on Iran

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday Russia will work in parallel with the European Union (EU) in resolving the dispute over Iran's nuclear program.

"Russia has been very active in the process of negotiations between the EU trio and Iran. The resumption of negotiations between the trio and Iran meets the interests of both parties," Lavrov said after talks with Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

"Russia intends to move along a parallel path to contribute to the achievement of results that satisfy all sides," he said.

The EU talks with Iran, aimed at persuading Tehran to scrap uranium enrichment, collapsed after Iran resumed uranium conversion activities in August.

The EU trio -- Germany, France and Britain -- bristled at Iran's renewal of nuclear fuel work and warned of hauling Iran before the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.

Russia is opposed to such a move.

Uranium conversion is a process that precedes enrichment. Enriched uranium can be used as fuel in nuclear power generation or in nuclear bombs.

The United States accuses Iran of seeking nuclear know-how to build nuclear weapons. Iran, however, says its nuclear program is dedicated exclusively to power generation.

Lavrov described the IAEA's activities in Iran as the "best way of achieving the goal of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."

"Russia is interested in the strongest consolidation of the non-proliferation regime, above all nuclear arms, and is convinced that further IAEA activities in Iran will help achieve this goal" Lavrov said.

"We are for the IAEA's further cooperation with Iran and we encourage the Iranian leadership to act likewise," he said.

Source: Xinhua