Lavrov said he would hold talks with Manouchehr Mottaki on the sidelines of the three-day Munich Security Conference, due to begin later on Friday, and urge Tehran to cooperate with the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency.

"I will try to present to him in all clarity the position of the 3+3 about the necessity for Iran to answer the IAEA's questions and convince us of the exclusively peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear programme," Lavrov said.

He was speaking in Berlin after talks with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and referring to the six world powers attempting to convince Iran to abandon sensitive nuclear work.

"We have a real chance today to reach an agreement on the practical details," Lavrov said, adding that such a deal "would change the atmosphere in relations" between Iran and the six powers.

But he added: "If we do not see a constructive reply from the side of Iran, we will need to talk about that at the UN Security Council."

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad this week raised hopes of progress in the international stand-off over its nuclear activities by indicating that he might be ready to accept an offer to send some uranium abroad for enrichment.

Doing so would help soothe concerns that Iran wanted to arm itself with nuclear weapons, but Washington called on Tehran to make a concrete offer to the IAEA.

Russia, a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council, is seen as less keen on fresh sanctions against Iran than fellow members France, Britain and the United States.

Recent comments have indicated however that Moscow is becoming increasingly impatient, with Lavrov saying last month that Iran could not keep the world waiting "forever".

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili also postponed a visit to Russia that had been due to include talks with President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

China is also seen as more sceptical. Yang Jiechi, Chinese foreign minister, was also in Munich and due to give the opening speech later on Friday. On Thursday in Paris he spoke out against more sanctions.

The annual Munich Security Conference includes around 300 senior military, diplomatic and political figures. Alongside Iran, its main talking points were set to include nuclear disarmament, Afghanistan and the future of NATO.

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