Russia's Foreign Ministry said it opposes any new United Nations sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program after representatives of the five permanent Security Council members and Germany met.

The participants of the meeting in Washington supported the International Atomic Energy Agency's efforts in Iran and called on the Persian Gulf country to cooperate fully and openly with the organization, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement posted on its Web site today.

Russia, which is building a nuclear power plant in Iran, has called for a diplomatic solution to disagreements over a program that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says is to generate electricity, while refusing to answer questions about possible weapons activity. The officials at yesterday's meeting said they would pursue diplomatic measures based on new proposals from the six countries seeking a deal, the Russian ministry said.

``The Russian side stressed the need to continue efforts to involve Tehran in constructive dialogue with the aim of starting negotiations,'' the ministry said. ``In this context, we opposed drafting additional measures at the UN Security Council at this stage.''

The five permanent UN Security Council members are Russia, the U.S., the U.K, China and France.