Several nations secured the referral of Iran's nuclear program from the International Atomic Energy Agency to the UN Security Council after the Islamic Republic failed to reinstate a moratorium on nuclear research. Iran said its nuclear program was designed to generate energy, but Western nations, in particular, suspect it of pursuing a bomb-making capacity.
"It would be right if the problem returned not to the UN Security Council and we did not talk about any sanctions, but to the professionals at the International Atomic Energy Agency," he told an Internet conference arranged by the BBC and Russian Web portal Yandex in the Kremlin.
As one of the six negotiators on Iran's nuclear program, Russia opposed the transfer of Iran's nuclear file to the UN Security Council and has consistently been against any economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
"I think it [the transfer back to the IAEA] is possible if Iran positively responds to the incentives," the president said referring to the package of incentives that the U.S., France, Britain, Germany, China, and Russia had put forward to Iran on June 6 to persuade the country to abandon nuclear research.
"I would not hurry to talk about sanctions," Putin said. "I would rather concentrate on the proposals that the Iran-6 negotiators have drafted and that are very constructive."
Putin said that Tehran was ready for a dialogue and had promised to respond to the incentives in August.
"As the host of the G8 summit, I would personally prefer dialogue to start before G8 leaders gather in St. Petersburg," the president said.
Russia is presiding over the Group of Eight industrialized nations this year and will host a summit on July 15-17.
