IAEA still central to solving Iran crisis

"It's necessary to wholly support the continuation of the activities of the IAEA in Iran and I hope that all efforts of the international community, in Vienna and in New York, will be aimed at exactly that," Lavrov told journalists, referring to the host cities of the IAEA and the United Nations Security Council.

"In such an important and serious area as nuclear proliferation we trust only the judgement of professionals," said Lavrov, whose country is one of the Security Council's five permanent members.

IAEA inspections "have not supported the conclusion that Iran possesses technologies for producing weapons of mass destruction... On the other hand, the inspections don't support the opposite conclusion," he said.

"All our proposals today are aimed at clarifying this question," Lavrov said.

He was speaking as the permanent members of the Security Council mulled a binding draft resolution demanding a halt to Iran's uranium enrichment work.

Western powers suspect that what Iran has presented as a civilian nuclear programme is in fact a cover for developing nuclear weapons.

Russia, a close political and commercial ally of Iran, has consistently cautioned against the use of sanctions or force in the Iranian nuclear stand-off.

In New York on Wednesday, Russia's UN ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, said Moscow would be prepared to back a Franco-British draft resolution on Iran if its concerns were addressed.

Russia is building Iran's first nuclear power station at Bushehr, a project that Washington has said Moscow should halt.