Tehran: Iran on Friday said it has submitted a package of proposals on nuclear non-proliferation, other international security issues to Russian and Chinese foreign ministers.

"These countries have promised to closely study the package of proposals and to announce their opinion regarding our initiatives," a spokesman for the Iranian Supreme National Security Council said.

Tehran has already submitted to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana "an array of its own proposals" on the resolution of outstanding international problems, including the long-running dispute over Iran's nuclear programme.

The spokesman said the goal of Iran's proposals was to reach international agreements, without preconditions, on "long-term cooperation aimed at strengthening peace, and international and regional security on a just basis".

Russia and China, which have strong trade links with Iran, have so far prevented harsh sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme, using their vetoes on the United Nations Security Council.

Russia has consistently supported Iran's right to peaceful nuclear energy, and has almost completed the country's first nuclear power plant in Bushehr.

Iran has defied three rounds of Security Council sanctions imposed over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment, which many countries say is being used by Tehran as a cover for nuclear weapons development.

The Islamic Republic has also refused to continue talks with the Iran Six, and has said it will negotiate only with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations' nuclear watchdog.

The six nations negotiating with Iran on its controversial nuclear programme comprise the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. Iranian authorities have yet to give specific details on their new proposals, but have said they will be made public soon.

Source : IANS