The Russian Foreign Minister urges the West to encourage Iran to cooperate with the IAEA, instead of constantly threatening Tehran.
In a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Sergey Lavrov slammed the West for threatening to take military action against Iran.
"We believe collective work will be more effective if there are no parallel steps for imposing sanctions on Iran, let alone periodical calls to use force against the country," the Russian minister said Friday.
He emphasized such threats only impede the efforts to seek a negotiated solution, urging the international community to make concerted efforts to resolve Iran's nuclear standoff.