Russia hopeful over London talks on Iran - FM Lavrov

RIA Novosti:

Russia's foreign minister said Tuesday that talks between the EU3 negotiators, the United States, Russia and China would produce a consensus for starting talks with Iran over its nuclear program. READ MORE

"I hope that at the meeting between the EU3, the U.S., Russia and China our general position will be maintained, and a platform developed that will allow us to start talks with Iran," Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Kuwait City, where he is currently on an official visit.

Senior diplomats from the EU3 - the U.K., France and Germany - are meeting counterparts from the U.S., Russia and China in London Tuesday in a bid to break the deadlock over Iran.

Lavrov reiterated Russia's position that the long-standing impasse over the Islamic Republic's controversial nuclear research program should be resolved by diplomatic means, and said he hoped Iran would cooperate constructively and openly with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog.