TEHRAN (AFP) - Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said here Sunday that Moscow was opposed to seeing Iran referred to the UN Security Council over its nuclear programme.
"To start thinking of any scenario which is not constructive to our point of view is premature and could be counter-productive," Lavrov said at a joint news conference with his Iranian counterpart Kamal Kharazi.
"We will be expecting the cooperation between Iran and the IAEA to continue," Lavrov added.
He was responding to a question over whether Russia would use its veto power at the Security Council if Iran was referred to the body by the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
On September 18, the IAEA board called on Iran to "immediately" widen a suspension of enrichment to include all uranium enrichment-related activities.
Iran has so far refused to do so and is facing a November 25 deadline. It risks being referred to the Security Council, something the United States -- which accuses Iran of seeking nuclear weapons -- has been pushing for.
While Lavrov said it was "in Iran's and everybody's interest to suspend enrichment" activities, he gave no sign that Russia was willing to back away from a deal to build the Islamic republic's first nuclear plant and provide it with fuel.
On the provision of nuclear fuel, a deal that has been held up for several months amid a dispute over pricing and the return of spent fuel, Lavrov said he now expected a contract would be signed "in the near future".
And he said he saw "no linkage" between the deal and the November 25 deadline set by the IAEA.
For his part, Kharazi reiterated the regimes refusal to give up its work on the nuclear fuel cycle, but added Iran was "ready to accept all mechanisms to give proof that there is no deviation of the Iranian nuclear programme."