No military solution to Iran row - Russia's Lavrov

MOSCOW, Apr 12 (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov today said the use of force could not solve the stand-off surrounding Iran's nuclear programme.

''If such plans exist they will not be able to solve this problem. On the contrary they could create a dangerous explosive blaze in the Middle East, where there are already enough blazes,'' he was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying.

He was speaking a day after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran had produced the enriched uranium needed to make nuclear fuel for the first time, triggering a warning from Washington.

Tensions over Iran's nuclear programme have been high in recent months, and the United Nations has said Iran must halt uranium enrichment, a process Western nations believe Tehran wants to master so that it can develop nuclear weapons.

Russia's Foreign Ministry, in a statement earlier today, called on Tehran to halt enrichment activities.

Russia, one of the five powers that can veto UN Security council decisions, has long opposed using sanctions against the Islamic Republic, which denies seeking nuclear weapons.

But Lavrov today did not repeat his opposition to sanctions, saying merely he did not want to jump to conclusions over what steps the world community should take next.

''I would not hurry to make any conclusions, because passions are too often inflamed around the Iranian nuclear programme,'' he was quoted as saying.

REUTERS SI PM1557