Russia said on Friday it regretted Iran's decision not to suspend uranium enrichment by Thursday's deadline set by the United Nations, a Foreign Ministry spokesman was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying.

"We express our regret that Iran did not abide by (UN Security Council) resolution 1696 and has not ended work on enriching uranium by the deadline set out in that document," spokesman Mikhail Kamynin was quoted by Interfax and RIA-Novosti as saying.

Kamynin said countries concerned would have consultations in coming days to decide what further actions they should take.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said sanctions were not the best way to resolve international disputes.

"We take into account the experience of the past and we cannot ally ourselves with ultimatums, which all lead to a dead end," Interfax quoted Lavrov as saying.

"Yes, there are countries whose policies raise doubts, and cause discontent, but we all live in the same world and we need to ... draw them into dialogue, and not isolation and sanctions," Lavrov said.

The UN Security Council ratified Resolution 1696 on Iran's nuclear issue in July, which urged Tehran to suspend all activities related to uranium enrichment before Aug. 31, otherwise it would face sanctions.

Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on Thursday referred a report on Iran's implementation of the resolution to the UN Security Council and the world nuclear watchdog's Board of Governors.

A statement from the IAEA did not reveal details of the report. But diplomats in Vienna said Iran had disregarded Resolution 1696 and failed to stop enriching uranium before the Aug. 31 deadline.

The United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany offered Iran an incentive package in exchange for commitment from Tehran to freeze enrichment.

Iran has insisted that its nuclear program is peaceful, with the pure purpose of producing electricity with nuclear reactors.

Source: Xinhua