MOSCOW, April 29 (RIA Novosti) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has told his Iranian counterpart that Tehran must suspend its uranium enrichment activities and resume full cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, the ministry's press office said Saturday.
Lavrov and Manouchehr Mottaki discussed the international standoff over Iran's nuclear program in a telephone conversation following the submission of a report by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency to the UN Security Council Friday.
"The Russian side reiterated the urgent need for Iran to take concrete steps to restore trust in its nuclear activities on the part of the international community, specifically [the need] to suspend uranium enrichment research, as well as to provide full-scale cooperation with the [International Atomic Energy] Agency in order to speedily resolve outstanding IAEA questions regarding Iran's nuclear program," the ministry said in a news release.
Mohamed ElBaradei's report, confirming Iran's failure to meet the UN Security Council's April 28 deadline to halt all uranium enrichment activities, has deepened a rift between the council's five permanent member states, with the U.S., France and Britain pressing for a new militarily enforceable resolution to make Iran abandon its nuclear program and Russia and China insisting the issue be resolved through diplomacy.
