Russia and Iran meet for nuclear talks in Russian capital

Russian negotiators met with a delegation from Iran behind closed doors in Moscow on Tuesday and called for efforts to resolve the crisis around Tehran 's disputed nuclear program through diplomatic means, with the involvement of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the Russian Security Council said.

Photo: Russia and Iran meet for nuclear talks in Russian capital

The council said in a statement that the Russian side had been led by Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov and the Iranian side by chief nuclear negotiator Ali Hosseinitash.

The RIA-Novosti news agency, citing the Iranian state agency IRNA, said the talks had ended by early afternoon and the Iranian delegation had left the city.

"In the course of discussions, the Russian side confirmed its commitment to keeping to a diplomatic route for resolving the problem using the possibilities of the International Atomic Energy Agency," the Security Council said in a brief statement.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov set a tough tone Monday ahead of the talks, accusing Iran of adopting an unhelpful attitude during talks on Tehran 's nuclear program, but said Moscow had agreed to Iran 's request for further consultations.

Previous talks on Russia 's Western-backed offer to host Iran 's uranium enrichment program produced no results after Tehran rejected Moscow 's demand to suspend uranium enrichment activities at home.

Lavrov reiterated that a halt to enrichment activities was a condition for the proposal, which was seen as a way for Iran to avoid the threat of U.N. sanctions.

"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.

He said he could not comment on whether Iran has rejected the proposal to enrich uranium for Iran on Russian territory because "contradictory signals are coming from Tehran . One day they reject it, the other day they don't", reports the AP.

D.M.