"The Russian initiative is a good initiative" and "the Iranian government is closely examining this proposal," Ansari, Iran's permanent envoy in Moscow, said.

"We haven't refused the Russian proposal," Ansari said.

"Naturally it takes time to examine it," while Russia "should also have some time to perfect" its proposal, he said.

The proposal to enrich uranium on Iran's behalf via a joint venture has been seen by some Western countries as a possible way out of the Iranian nuclear crisis, which intensified last week when Tehran signalled a decision to resume research on uranium enrichment.

At high-level talks in London this week Russian diplomats resisted Western pressure to refer the Iranian nuclear question to the United Nations Security Council.

Russia has close commercial and diplomatic ties with Iran, symbolised by Moscow's ongoing construction of a nuclear power station for Iran at Bushehr.

"Certain countries are trying to carry out a false propaganda campaign.... We hope Russia will remain true to its convictions" despite such pressure, Ansari said in Wednesday's interview.

Meanwhile a group of senior Israeli experts were in Moscow on Wednesday for talks on Iran's nuclear programme amid gathering pressure for action to curb the Islamic republic's atomic ambitions.

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