MOSCOW (AFP) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called Wednesday on the top UN powers to give Iran security guarantees to help resolve Tehran’s nuclear issue, Russian news agencies reported.

Lavrov said that international powers negotiating with Iran “could put concrete proposals on the table guaranteeing the security of Iran and ensuring Iran a worthy, equal place in talks on resolving all problems in the near and Middle East,” the agencies reported.
Lavrov spoke at a meeting with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg.
Germany, plus permanent UN Security Council members Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States, make up the six-nation group negotiating to end Iran’s controversial uranium enrichment work and curb the nuclear program.
Western powers fear Tehran wants to use its nuclear program to make atomic weapons but the Islamic republic insists the drive is peaceful and solely aimed at providing energy for a growing population.
Russia has relatively close ties to Iran and has built the country’s first nuclear power station, for which it is also supplying the uranium fuel.