Moscow, April 18 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian foreign minister has asked his Iranian counterpart to make a pause in its uranium enrichment activities.
The ministry said in a press release Tuesday minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by telephone with Manouchehr Mottaki of Iran on Monday.
"The Russian side pointed to the importance of Iran's progressive cooperation with [UN's nuclear watchdog] IAEA to help clarify the agency's remaining questions regarding the Iranian nuclear program and Tehran's adoption of relevant confidence measures," it said.
"In this context Sergei Lavrov insistently recommended the Iranian side to make a pause in uranium enrichment."
Moscow hosts high-level talks on the Iran problem Tuesday involving representatives of all five permanent Security Council members - Russia, China, the United States, France, and the U.K. - plus Germany.
The UN Security Council demanded late March that Tehran re-impose a moratorium on uranium enrichment, and ordered the the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to report on the country's compliance with the demand by the end of April. IAEA head Mohammed ElBaradei visited Tehran last week for talks with Iranian officials.
Iran has been accused of pursuing a covert program to develop nuclear weapons, but has denied the accusations, insisting that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes and that it has the right to produce nuclear fuel on its own soil.
