Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged Iran on Monday to adopt a position that would ease the increasing tensions over its nuclear program and encourage resumption of talks over the nuclear dispute.

"I expect to discuss the nuclear problem of Iran and the increasingly tense situation surrounding it. We hope our Iranian friends will take a position that will ease tensions and help encourage a resumption of negotiations," Lavrov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying at the start of talks with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mehdi Safari in Moscow.

Contact between Russia and Iran is "intensive," and both sides share a similar interest in strengthening regional stability in the Middle East, Iraq and Afghanistan, Lavrov said.

Germany, France and Britain, representing the European Union (EU), had been negotiating with Iran to persuade it to scrap uranium enrichment, but the talks collapsed after Iran ended a freeze on uranium conversion in August 2005.

Russia, which is helping Iran build its first nuclear power plant in Bushehr, has proposed to enrich its uranium under a joint venture on the former Soviet republic's soil.

Tehran and Moscow are continuing the intensive dialogue on the nuclear program, Safari said, quoted by Interfax.

Uranium enriched at low levels can fuel nuclear reactors, but if highly enriched it can be used for nuclear bombs.

The United States accuses Iran of running a covert nuclear arms program. Iran, however, says its nuclear work is designed merely to meet its energy needs.

International pressure on Iran is mounting after Iran resumed sensitive nuclear research earlier this month.

The International Atomic Energy Agency will convene an emergency session of its board of governors on Feb. 2-3 at the request of the EU to vote on referring Iran to the UN Security Council to face possible economic sanctions.

Source: Xinhua