Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Kuwait Tuesday that Moscow supports an EU proposal aimed at coaxing Iran into halting sensitive nuclear work and called on Tehran to cooperate.
"We believe that it is only through a collective collaboration on a common position that we can achieve results," Lavrov said after talks with his Kuwaiti counterpart Sheikh Mohammed al-Sabah.
Senior officials from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany are due to meet in London Wednesday to discuss the EU proposal that offers incentives to Tehran to halt its sensitive nuclear work.
"We hope that the meeting tomorrow ... will enable the (six) countries to preserve a united position regarding the need to reach a negotiated settlement, and create a common platform to start negotiations" with Iran, he said.
"We hope that Tehran will accept the proposals for negotiations and fully cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency," Lavrov said, adding that Russia, China and the United States supported the EU effort.
Sheikh Mohammed said the two countries agreed on the "importance of reaching a peaceful, diplomatic and political solution to the issue."
Asked if Russia would back military action against Iran if the proposed negotiations collapsed, Lavrov declined to answer but insisted that Moscow does not support the use of force "in principle."
"I would not speak about hypothetical scenarios based on the assumption that everything would fail," he said, speaking through an interpreter.
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