TEHRAN - On Monday, government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham reiterated Iran’s opposition to nuclear weapons after North Korea announced it had conducted its first underground nuclear test.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran is opposed to the use and production of any kind of weapon of mass destruction, especially nuclear weapons,” Elham told reporters.

“Iran has repeatedly declared that it favors global nuclear disarmament, and if the major powers take this path, other countries, especially the Islamic countries, will support them,” he added.

Elham went on to say that the best solution to the world’s nuclear dilemma would be for the major powers to start dismantling their nuclear weapons first.

Russia said on Tuesday North Korea's nuclear test was a "colossal blow" to the non-proliferation regime, but an eventual United Nations resolution on this issue should not involve the use of force.

"This (nuclear test) was a colossal blow to the non-proliferation regime," Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told a news conference. "I think that when a resolution is being looked at in the (UN) Security Council, we are not talking about using force."

Hours after Monday's nuclear test by North Korea, Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the blast but urged countries involved in negotiations on Pyongyang's atomic program to show restraint in their reaction.

"For us that is very important ... imagine if there was military action on the territory of North Korea ... North Korea has borders with three countries, and one of them is Russia," Ivanov said.

Russia, along with the United States, China, South Korea and Japan, is involved in international efforts to persuade Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons program.

China also said on Tuesday its ally had to face some "punitive actions" for reportedly conducting a nuclear test, an indication Beijing was willing to impose sanctions against Pyongyang.

But China's UN ambassador Wang Guangya did not say which of the array of sanctions proposed by the United States in a draft UN Security Council resolution Beijing might support.

"I think that there has to be some punitive actions but also I think that these actions have to be appropriate," Wang told reporters. He said that the council needed to have a "firm, constructive, appropriate but prudent response to North Korea's nuclear threat."

China has been an ally of North Korea and supplies food for the Communist state of 23 million people.