The six-party negotiations on the Korean nuclear issue provide an example for a possible format of consultations with Iran over its disputed nuclear program, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday.

In an article posted on the Foreign Ministry's website, Lavrov said everybody recognized that neither the Korean nuclear issue nor the Iranian one can be solved by military means or imposing sanctions.

"There is a common rule applicable to both cases: problems are best resolved through involvement, rather than by the isolation of 'problem states'," Lavrov said.

"It would be useful to compare the two situations if we agree that there is no alternative to a political and diplomatic settlement," he said, adding that such comparative analysis would prove that re-arranging existing contacts could become a considerable resource in resolving the Iranian nuclear problem.

"All these contacts could be brought together to establish bilateral dialog," Lavrov said.

Germany, France and Britain, which have represented European Union in talks with Iran, had been trying to persuade Tehran to scrap uranium enrichment, but the talks collapsed after Iran ended a freeze on uranium conversion in August. Iran has insisted on a full nuclear fuel cycle.

Moscow has proposed a plan that would allow Iran a civilian nuclear program but transfer uranium enrichment, the most sensitive part of the nuclear fuel cycle, to Russia. The proposal was backed by the EU and the United States.

Source: Xinhua