NEW YORK, May 9 (RIA Novosti) - The foreign ministers of the six negotiating nations on Iran's nuclear program did not discuss sanctions against Iran during their crucial meeting on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday.
"The issue of sanctions [against Iran] was not discussed in any form during the meeting," Lavrov told a news conference, adding that the participants of the meeting had not reviewed the UN Security Council draft resolution on Iran either.
"We only discussed the general action strategy of the international community in respect to Iran's nuclear program," the minister said.
Lavrov said the foreign ministers of the Iran Six had agreed that direct negotiations on Iran's nuclear program should be resumed and the provisions of the Non-Proliferation Treaty should be observed by all means.
He also said that a letter sent on the eve of the Iran Six meeting by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to U.S. President George W. Bush with proposals for solving ongoing international disputes did not contain clear answers on issues of the Iranian nuclear program that cause concern of the international community.
"Condoleezza Rice [U.S. State Secretary] informed us about this letter and we are analyzing its content at present," Lavrov said. "From the first glance, it does not contain answers to questions that have been addressed to Iran."
Mohammed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog, reported to the Security Council last week that Iran had failed to meet the council's April 28 deadline to halt all uranium enrichment activities. His report 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.
