Putin urges IAEA to play a key role in resolving Iran N-problem

Moscow, Apr 27 (UNI) Russian President Vladimir Putin today urged the IAEA to play a key role in resolving the Iran standoff nuclear problem.

''The IAEA should continue to play a significant and key role in resolving the Iranian nuclear problem as it has done until now, rather than shift the resolution of these problems to the UN Security Council,'' Mr Putin said at a press conference in the western Siberian city of Tomsk, after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

He, however, declined to make any forecasts what decisions the UN Security Council might take about the Iran nuclear issue.

''It is too early to say what decisions we may arrive at.

Whatever decisions will be made, they must be co-ordinated,'' Itar-Tass news agency quoted him as saying.

In a separate statement, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the referral of the IAEA head's report on the standoff to the UN Security Council on April 28 should not be seen as an ultimatum to Iran.

''The submission of IAEA head Mohammad ElBaradei's report to the UN Security Council and its discussion are of a purely working nature and have no rigorous deadline,'' Mr Lavrov told reporters in Tomsk.

Earlier, Russia said it was against Iran developing the know-how it would need to become a nuclear power.

''We are categorically against proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and against Iran having the technical know-how that would allow it to become a nuclear power,'' RIA Novosti reported quoting a Kremlin source.

The source also stressed Russia and the United States had different approaches to resolving the long-standing controversy around the Iranian nuclear programme.

''We flatly deny any scenario to solve the issue by force,'' the source said.

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