MOSCOW (AFP) -- The international community should continue to focus on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in its efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear crisis, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday.

"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 judgment of professionals," said Lavrov, whose country is one of the Security Council's five permanent members.

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

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.