Russia and Iran have pledged to resume six-party talks, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani on Saturday.

"An agreement was reached that our contacts will continue and we will, or course, work towards the common goal of resuming six- party talks. In the next few days we will continue contacts with the six states that have offered Iran relevant ideas as the basis for starting the talks," Lavrov was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying.

"Iran responded to this offer and we think that, with the good will, there is an opportunity to find mutually acceptable fundamental principles for resuming the talks on the basis of the six states' offer and Iran's response to it," he said.

"In the course of this meeting and other contacts the situation revolving around the Iranian nuclear program was discussed in detail, including in the context of this work in the UN Security Council," Lavrov said.

"The Russian side confirmed its position of principle that the problem should be solved on the solid basis of international law, taking into account the rights and obligations of all interested parties to the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons, with a focus on professional and impartial assessments by the International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors," the minister said.

Lavrov took part in the meeting along with Russian Security Council secretary Igor Ivanov.

Larijani arrived in Moscow on Friday. Ways to break the impasse over Iran's nuclear program are high on the agenda.

Source: Xinhua