Putin wants key role for IAEA on Iran nuclear impasse

TOMSK: The UN nuclear watchdog agency must retain a lead role in resolving the international standoff over Iran's nuclear programme, Russian President Vladimir Putin said here Thursday.   

"We believe it is the IAEA that must play a key role and not unload this weight onto the back of the Security Council," Putin said, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency whose chief was to report Friday to the UN Security Council on Iran's nuclear program. 

 "We will work cooperatively with all of our partners" to resolve the standoff over Iran's nuclear programme, which the United States says is being used as cover to develop nuclear weapons -- a charge Tehran rejects. 

 "It is too early to run ahead and say what decisions we might take together. The main thing is that any decisions that are made must be made in agreement" among all involved, Putin said at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for a diplomatic resolution of the international standoff over Iran's nuclear programme. 

 "We all have a big interest in the international community acting together and showing Iran through diplomatic means that it must abide by international agreements," Merkel said at the joint news conference.