Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that a European draft resolution imposing sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear program would isolate Iran.

"We cannot support those measures which in fact aim to isolate Iran from the outside world, including the isolation of the people who are charged with leading negotiations on the nuclear program," the Interfax news agency quoted Lavrov as saying.

He was referring to a draft UN Security Council resolution tabled by Britain, France and Germany, which seeks to punish Iran for its defiance of a UN demand it halt uranium enrichment activities.

"The EU3 draft resolution goes far beyond the framework of agreements" among the six major nations that have offered Iran a package of incentives and multilateral talks in exchange for a freeze on its enrichment work, Lavrov said. But he added: "We are working on the text of the resolution."

The United States is seeking to impose sanctions on Iran through the UN Security Council on the grounds that Tehran is developing a nuclear-weapons program under the garb of a civilian- use program. Iran, however, says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Lavrov said last month that Russia will oppose any attempts to use the UN Security Council to punish Iran for its nuclear program.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a telephone conversation on Monday that Moscow favored further talks on Iran's nuclear program.

Tehran has said it wants talks with the major nations, but will not suspend its nuclear work as a prerequisite.

Iran, which failed to meet a UN Security Council deadline for suspending its enrichment work by Aug. 31, said on Friday it had fed gas into a second cascade of centrifuges at a uranium enrichment facility.

Source: Xinhua