"We shouldn't push the situation to a North Korean scenario," said Sergei Ivanov during a two-day working visit to Athens.

Six-nation negotiations between North Korea and the United States, China, South Korea, Russia and Japan, have been stalled since November 2005 over North Korean objections to US financial sanctions.

"If sanctions are imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council, they should be realistic ... and not without a time limit," Ivanov said.

"Otherwise, we might face a risk of losing the possibility for any political or diplomatic solution," he told a news conference.

Earlier on Wednesday, the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany agreed on the need for sanctions against Iran after a Paris meeting on Tehran's nuclear programme, though their extent is yet to be decided.

Several of the countries, especially the United States, fear that despite Iran's insistence that it is pursuing civilian nuclear energy ambitions, the programme is in fact designed to build a nuclear arsenal.

Russia and China -- which have strong economic interests in Iran -- have tried to water down a draft UN Security Council resolution drawn up by France, Britain and Germany, while the United States has sought to harden it.

The European draft would bar trade with Iran in goods related to its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes and impose financial and travel restrictions on persons and agencies involved.