Wednesday, April 19 2006 16:00 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Moscow: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov today (Apr 19, 2006) called on Iran to halt all uranium enrichment activities, saying the international community is demanding 'urgent and constructive steps' from Tehran to ease concerns about its nuclear program, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

"Iran must heed the call to stop work linked to uranium enrichment," the agency quoted Lavrov as saying a day after a meeting in Moscow of diplomats from the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany.

"All participants in the meeting agreed that urgent and constructive steps are demanded of Iran in response to the decision of the board of the International Atomic EnergyAgency," which has called on Tehran to stop enrichment activty, Lavrov said.

But he added no decision had been adopted at the meeting, echoing a top US diplomat who said the envoys recognized the need for a stiff response to Iran's flagrant violations of its international resosibilities but failed to reach agreement on how to proceed.