MOSCOW - Britain and Russia both demand that Iran give a prompt response to a United Nations-drafted nuclear fuel deal, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on a visit to Moscow on Monday.
"We both want to see a prompt response from the Iranian regime," Miliband said at a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
Lavrov said Moscow was counting on Tehran to approve the deal, which was thrashed out at a meeting last month in Vienna with representatives of Iran, Russia, France and the United States.
"This meeting ended with an agreement... which we are counting on all the participants, without exceptions, to approve, including Iran," the Russian foreign minister said.
Iran has delayed giving a clear response to the draft agreement brokered by the UN atomic energy watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Tehran is under pressure to sign the deal, which would see its low-enriched uranium sent to Russia and France for conversion into fuel and sent back to a Tehran research reactor monitored by the IAEA.
Russia, which has closer ties with Iran than any other major world power, is seen as a key player in any possible solution to the standoff.
Iran insists it has the right to develop nuclear technology, which it says is aimed at generating energy for its growing population.
Although Iran has oil, it is still dependent on petrol imports to meet about 40 percent of domestic consumption.
Israel is the only country in the Middle Ease that actually has nuclear weapons.
Observers say due the strong Jewish and pro-Israel lobbies in the US and some European countries, these countries have taken a hypocritical stance in relation to nuclear issues in the region.
Tehran had repeatedly protested against Israeli and US war threats, warning them that it would retaliate in the event of any strike against Iran.
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