Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has called for an international meeting which will include Russia, the United States, China, the European trio and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to resolve Iran's nuclear issue.

Speaking in an interview on Russian television, transcripts of which were posted on its foreign ministry's website Friday, Lavrov described the situation surrounding the dispute over Iran's nuclear program as "critical...But it does not mean that now everybody has to go to the Security Council and start to make calls and threats and fulfill such threats," Lavrov said.

"It only means that we all have to get together again to find a new consensus regarding our strategy at the current stage," he said. "We are ready for that."

On Thursday, a day after the IAEA wrapped up its meeting in Vienna with discussions on IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei's latest report on Iran's nuclear program, Russia urged Iran to consider the outcome of the meeting and cooperate fully with the UN nuclear watchdog.

The Iran nuclear standoff escalated after Tehran resumed nuclear fuel research in January, which prompted the IAEA decision last month to report its case to the UN Security Council.

The UN Security Council's five permanent members held closed consultations late Wednesday on the approach the powerful organ would take in handling the crisis over Iran's disputed nuclear program. UN officials said council members had received ElBaradei's report.

Source: Xinhua