MOSCOW, April 19 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's foreign minister said Wednesday that diplomats from Russia, the United States, China, and the EU-3 did not reach a decision on specific measures relating to Iran's controversial nuclear program at talks in Moscow Tuesday.
Sergei Lavrov said a decision would be taken following a report on the Islamic Republic's compliance with the UN Security Council's demand to end uranium enrichment by the end of April, or face isolation.
"No decision was taken at yesterday's meeting, and we had not intended to do so, as we first have to wait for a report by IAEA director Mohammed ElBaradei at the end of this month," Lavrov said.
He also said that the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog, should consider ElBaradei's report on Iran before passing it on to the Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions if the country is found in breach of its non-proliferation commitments.
Lavrov said the deputy foreign ministers of all five permanent Security Council members - Russia, China, the United States, France, and the UK, along with Germany - had exchanged opinions on further steps in the long-running dispute with Iran, which is suspected of seeking to build nuclear weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear program.
Iran has dismissed such accusations, and insisted on its right to pursue peaceful nuclear technology under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
"All the participants at yesterday's meeting were unanimous that Iran must take prompt and constructive steps in response to a decision to be made by the IAEA Board of Governors," the minister said.
Lavrov said the countries had agreed to continue talks in different formats to persuade Tehran to heed the international community's concerns. The minister said this would encourage a political resolution of the diplomatic conflict.
ElBaradei visited Tehran April 13-14 after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that the Islamic Republic had successfully produced low-enriched uranium.
The IAEA head said he could not yet confirm that Iran had enriched uranium to 3.5%, sufficient to produce sustained fission reactions in nuclear power plants, but called on the Islamic Republic to suspend all nuclear activities until the end of April to resolve outstanding issues by the deadline set by the UN Security Council.
Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said Iran would not back down from its nuclear research, and that suspension of nuclear activities would not bring a positive solution to the existing crisis.
Russia and China, veto-wielding Security Council members with strong business interests in Iran, have so far opposed economic sanctions against Tehran.
