Associated Press Writer

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's foreign minister on Thursday urged Iran to show good will in resolving the dispute over its nuclear program, as a senior Iranian envoy held talks in Moscow.

Sergey Lavrov told Ali Akbar Velayati, an envoy of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that Moscow hoped for a positive response in Tehran to its efforts to achieve a solution.

President Vladimir Putin last week said that Moscow backed a ``time-out'' proposed by the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency that calls for holding off on imposing U.N. sanctions if Tehran suspends uranium enrichment in its nuclear program.

“We sent corresponding signals to Tehran ... with good will on all sides, we can find a fair solution based on international law,'' Lavrov said at the start of his talks with Velayati.

In December, Russia supported a U.N. Security Council resolution imposing limited sanctions against Iran, after it ignored calls to halt uranium enrichment, which can produce fuel for atomic power stations or nuclear warheads.

But that support came only after an initial proposal was dropped that would have imposed curbs on Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant, which Russia is helping build under a $1 billion contract.

The United States and several of its Western allies believe that oil-rich Iran is using the nuclear program to produce an atomic weapon - charges Iran denies, saying it’s only aim is to generate electricity.

Diplomats accredited with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, said Monday that Iran has set up more than 300 centrifuges in two uranium enrichment units at its underground Natanz complex.

The move is a direct challenge to the U.N. Security Council and potentially opens way for larger scale enrichment operations. Iranian leaders have said the Natanz complex would initially house 3,000 centrifuges, and ultimately 54,000.

Velayati said Iran supported Russia in its efforts to resolve the dispute.

``There are no doubts that Russia, as an important world power, and Iran, as an important regional power, will play a key role in the future of this sensitive region,'' he said.

``The steps which Russia is taking in this direction of course have the support of Iran,'' Velayati said. He later met Russian Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov, who visited Tehran last month.

Iranian state-run radio said late last month that Tehran wanted Moscow to help mediate the standoff, saying Tehran's leaders were looking to Russia for new proposals, such as enrichment of uranium on Russian soil.

The Kremlin proposed last year that Iran move its enrichment work to Russian territory, where it could be better monitored, to alleviate international suspicions.

Iranian leaders had said they were interested in the idea, but nothing ever came of it as Tehran insisted on keeping some uranium enrichment activities on its soil.

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