"Iran is our neighbour, we cooperate with it and we will continue to to cooperate," he said at a Group of Eight (G8) summit here.

"In parallel we will insist that all Iran's nuclear programmes remain under the control of the IAEA," the UN's nuclear watchdog, he added.

A Russian official said earlier that Moscow "expects Iran to allay all concerns before the council of the International Atomic Energy Agencymeets on June 16."

The BBC quoted a senior British official as saying that Putin had told other leaders at the G8 summit that Russia would halt "all nuclear exports" until Iran signed up to tougher nuclear inspections.

WAR.WIRE