The UN Security Council on March 3 approved resolution 1803 on the Iranian nuclear program. Russia supported it.

The resolution was adopted "in a package" with the Statement of the foreign ministers of the six countries (Russia, China, United States, United Kingdom, Germany and France), which was made simultaneously with its approval.

As to the resolution per se, it was the result of a not easy compromise. All excessive political and economic demands by supporters of a tough line in resolving the issues of Iran's nuclear program had been removed from it. Like all previous UNSC resolutions on Iran, it focuses on solving nonproliferation tasks in the context of the Iranian nuclear program solely by politico-diplomatic methods, on the basis of Article 41 of the UN Charter, and on bolstering IAEA activities in that country.

The resolution is a serious political signal to Teheran about the necessity to cooperate with the UN Security Council and comply with the decisions of the IAEA Board of Governors.

In their Statement the six foreign ministers reaffirm the willingness of their countries to continue diplomatic efforts and show a creative approach in a search for ways leading to a negotiation process in the course of which it would be possible to jointly outline and coordinate agreements, action procedures and timeframes for achieving the necessary level of trust towards the nuclear efforts of Teheran.

We would like to especially stress that in their Statement the six have not only confirmed their recognition of Iran's rights with regard to peaceful utilization of nuclear energy, but have also declared that once trust in the peaceful character of the Iranian nuclear program is restored it will be treated in the same way as the programs of any other non-nuclear-weapon state party to the NPT Treaty. Moreover, this document expresses their readiness to develop their previous proposals to the Iranians offering "substantial opportunities" for political, security and economic benefits to Iran and the region.

We favor innovative approaches towards negotiations with Iran. Together with our partners in the Six, we are ready to promote a serious and concrete dialogue with Iran so that all the unresolved problems are closed in a satisfactory manner.

We expect that the leadership of Iran will carefully analyze the six foreign ministers' Statement and choose to comply with the requirements of the IAEA and the Security Council. We hope that the Iranian government continues active cooperation with the Agency and undertakes the necessary steps to start full-format talks in order to resolve the situation surrounding the Iranian nuclear program. It is equally important that the six countries should demonstrate their readiness for serious cooperation with Iran in practice.