Report: Russia ready to support softened sanctions against Iran

Russia is ready to back sanctions against Iran aimed at preventing it from building up military nuclear potential, Interfax news agency quoted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying on Friday.

"We are not opposed to sanctions aimed at preventing nuclear materials and sensitive technology from getting into Iran," Lavrov said.

The Russian foreigner minister and European foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Friday that six-nation talks on Iran's disputed nuclear program could take place early next week.

Speaking on the sidelines of a Middle East democracy and development conference at a Dead Sea resort in Jordan, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said he hoped progress would be made at the meeting.

"I think there will be a meeting in the coming days," Solana told Reuters

Lavrov said the meeting, proposed by France, would focus on a draft UN Security Council resolution that would impose penalties on Iran for refusing to stop uranium enrichment. The talks would take place at the deputy foreign minister level, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported from Jordan, where Lavrov was participating in the conference.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier all agreed Friday to the meeting, Lavrov said, according to Interfax. China also would be expected to take part.

Rice discussed Iran with foreign ministers from Britain, Italy and Germany as well as Solana during the conference in Jordan.

She did not hold formal meetings with Lavrov but saw him at a conference dinner the previous evening.

Rice also indicated U.S. annoyance at how long it was taking to get a UN resolution and hinted Washington was prepared to go ahead without Russia.

"I'm all for maintaining unity but I'm also in favor of action. And we'll just have to look at what the options are," she told reporters late on Thursday.

"I think we will get a Chapter 7 resolution. But obviously we'd like to keep the unity of the [the six powers], but unity is not an end in itself," added Rice.

A Chapter 7 resolution would allow the United Nations to impose sanctions on Iran.

Lavrov reaffirmed Russia's readiness to back a UN ban on exports of nuclear materials and sensitive technologies to Iran, but said Moscow remained opposed "to such sanctions and steps that could affect the International Atomic Energy Agency's activities in Iran," the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

Lavrov said the U.S.-proposed sanctions were "too tough" and added that they could undermine the IAEA's work in Iran, the agency reported.

The Europeans and Americans pushed for tough sanctions to punish Iran for its refusal to respect an August 31 UN Security Council deadline for halting uranium enrichment, but Russia said it will agree only to limited measures targeting the nuclear program.

Russia and China, which have major commercial ties with Iran, have been publicly pushing for dialogue instead of UN punishment, despite the collapse of a European Union attempt to entice Iran into negotiations.

The Europeans circulated a draft UN Security Council resolution in October that would order all countries to ban the supply of materials and technology that could contribute to Iran's nuclear and missile programs.

It would also impose a travel ban and asset freeze on companies, individuals and organizations involved in those programs.

The draft would exempt a nuclear power plant being built by the Russians at Bushehr, Iran, but not the nuclear fuel needed for the reactor.

Russia proposed major changes that would limit sanctions solely to measures that would keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

Russia would eliminate any travel ban, asset freeze, or mention of Bushehr.

Britain's UN Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said he didn't expect the Iran resolution to return to New York for discussion "for at least 10 days."

"There's work in progress. Different bits of language are being discussed. It's premature to imagine there is a new text. There isn't. But different formulae are being canvassed, discussed, between capitals and that process needs to be riper before the issue can come back here," Jones Parry told reporters at UN headquarters in New York.

Asked about the possible meeting of top diplomats from the six nations which Lavrov mentioned, Jones Parry said that "there are a series of discussions at different levels and in different configurations and they will continue."

	Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meeting in Jordan Friday. (Reuters)