At a meeting with senior diplomats from the United States, China, Britain, France and Germany on Friday, Russia "said it was against the development at this stage of additional measures in the UN Security Council," the statement said.

"The Russian side underlined the necessity of continuing efforts to restore constructive dialog with Tehran with the aim of moving forward the negotiation process," the statement said.

The White House on Monday warned Iran that it faced possible new sanctions over its suspect nuclear program, but said poor relations with Russia -- a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council -- could complicate matters.

France echoed the call for sanctions, but China argued Tuesday that such a move would not resolve the stalemate.

The foreign affairs political directors of the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany were meeting in Washington to help prepare for a meeting next week of their respective foreign ministers.

"All participants of the meeting expressed their support for the actions of the IAEA and underlined the need for Iran's full and transparent cooperation with the agency," the Russian statement said.

The IAEA, the UN's atomic watchdog, has accused Iran of failing to freeze uranium enrichment activities as instructed by the United Nations.

Three sets of UN sanctions have now been slapped on Iran, for defying Security Council resolutions to stop uranium enrichment, which can be a key step towards making nuclear weapons.

Relations between Moscow and Washington have been severely damaged in recent weeks by Russia's invasion of US ally Georgia.

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