Iran security chief holds nuclear talks in Russia

MOSCOW: Iran's top national security official was due in Moscow Monday for talks with Russia focused on Tehran's nuclear dispute with the West, the Iranian embassy said.

Saeed Jalili will speak at Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) at 2:00 pm (1000 GMT) and later in the week join a global security forum in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg, an embassy official said.

The two-day Yekaterinburg event starts Wednesday and will be attended by security chiefs from 65 countries, the region's administration said on its website.

The Iranian embassy said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was also expected at the forum. The Russian foreign ministry did not comment on the visit.

Jalili's arrival comes one month after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held talks in Moscow with his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi at which he fleshed out details of a new Kremlin proposal in the standoff.

The plan states that each time Iran is able to build confidence with the UN nuclear agency; it will be rewarded with a step-by-step removal of the UN sanctions imposed against it over the last years.

Lavrov said at the time that Russia's plan had been "completely accepted" by the five other world powers involved in attempts to find a peaceful solution to the Iranian nuclear drive.

The Iranian foreign minister promised to study the idea and called it "promising" at the time.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011