"The Russian side is convinced that all questions concerning Iran's nuclear program can and should be resolved trough (Iran's) cooperation with the IAEA," Interfax quoted chief foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko as saying.

Yakovenko called for the negotiations to be "constructive and productive."

His comments came shortly after Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi denounced the "arrogance" and "extremist posture" of certain countries over Iran's nuclear program and warned that Tehran might reconsider its cooperation with the UN's nuclear watchdog.

The IAEA is set to consider at a meeting in Vienna on Wednesday an October 31 deadline for Iran to prove it is not secretly trying to develop atomic weapons.

The United States accused Iran on Tuesday of being in breach of safeguards under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty but supported a proposed "last chance" for Tehran to clear up questions about its atomic program.

France, Germany and Britain jointly called on Iran to fully disclose its contested nuclear program by the end of October in a draft resolution submitted Tuesday to the 35-nation IAEA board.

Russia's own involvement in Iran has troubled many nations. It is constructing the Islamic state's first nuclear reactor at Bushehr but insists the project can in no way help Tehran's nuclear weapons ambitions.

Yet Moscow stresses it will not launch the reactor until Tehran agrees to return all spent nuclear fuel from Bushehr back to Russia.

The signature of that separate protocol agreement has been delayed several times, with some analysts suggesting that Russia is delaying the project under pressure from the United States.

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