(www.irna.ir) - Russia's Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov here Tuesday evening announced that Moscow will consult with the 5+1 Group (the UN Security Council's five permanent members Russia, Britain, France, China and the US plus Germany) to try to reach a peaceful settlement to the Iran nuclear issue in the near future.
Ivanov, talking to reporters at a press conference after his arrival from a two-day visit to Tehran last weekend, said Moscow would inform the group's members of the outcome of his talks with senior Iranian officials and pave the ground for resumption of talks on the nuclear issue, reports Trend.
Russia believes new proposals made by the Group 5+1 can be a good starting point for resumption of nuclear talks with Iran, he added.
Ivanov told reporters that during his meetings with senior Iranian officials he urged Tehran to return to nuclear negotiations in order to resolve the nuclear issue which, he said, can prove to be a good start for settlement of the bigger Middle East issues, in particular Iraq.
He underscored the need for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment, stressing that Moscow was interested in seeing the nuclear talks resume at the earliest.
Referring to IAEA Director-General Mohamad ElBaradei's proposal for a time-out by the two sides, that is, simultaneous suspension of enrichment by Iran and freezing of sanctions by the UN Security Council based on Resolution 1737, he said the call was "timely and realistic" and would effectively lead to a cooling off of tensions.
He said UN Security Council Resolution 1737 was issued only to encourage Iran to further cooperate with the IAEA and come back to the negotiating table.
He said the IAEA is to give a new report on the status of Iran's cooperation with the agency on February 21 and called on Iran to give it full cooperation so it can give an accurate report on the country's nuclear activities.
Ivanov arrived in Tehran Saturday for a two-day visit.
While in Tehran he reviewed issues of mutual interest as well as latest regional and international developments with Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Secretary of Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Larijani and Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.