Russia declares it will have new round of nuclear consultations with Iran

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday that Moscow will hold another round of nuclear consultations with Iran shortly.

Photo: Russia declares it will have new round of nuclear consultations with Iran

The Interfax news agency, citing an unnamed source in Russia 's embassy in Tehran , said the talks could take place in Moscow on Tuesday and Wednesday.

" Iran in the last day or two appealed to us again to hold consultations," Lavrov said at a briefing. "They will take place in the nearest future."

Recent talks on Russia 's offer to host Iran 's uranium enrichment program produced no results, after Tehran rejected Moscow 's demand to suspend its uranium enrichment activities.

"We are very disappointed with the way Iran has been conducting itself in these negotiations, absolutely not helping those who want to provide for finding peaceful ways to resolve the whole situation surrounding the Iranian nuclear program," Lavrov said.

"Contradictory signals are coming from Tehran . One day they reject it, the other day they don't," he said.

Earlier Monday, Russia 's atomic energy chief, Sergei Kiriyenko, said Russia 's proposal to enrich uranium for Iran on Russian territory remains open. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi had said Sunday that Tehran would no longer consider the Russian proposal.

" Russia believes that Iran , like any other state, has the right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, but the global community has the right to demand guarantees of nonproliferation. Russia has made its offer to combine these two positions," Kiriyenko said.

"The Russian proposal has and will remain, and it's not going to change. Attempts to extract just certain fragments of it won't work", reports the AP.