Russia, US agree to hold ministerial meeting on Iran

AFP: The United States and Russia agreed here to hold further ministerial-level meetings in the future in a bid to stop Iran's sensitive nuclear work, a senior US official said Wednesday.

NEW YORK (AFP) — The United States and Russia agreed here to hold further ministerial-level meetings in the future in a bid to stop Iran's sensitive nuclear work, a senior US official said Wednesday.

State Department official Daniel Fried told reporters the agreement was reached in talks in New York between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, their first since ties tensions soared over the Georgia conflict last month.

Fried said both "agreed that they should have a ministers" meeting in the future, but set no date.

The United States and its P5-plus-one partners — Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany — decided to call off a meeting this week in New York after Moscow complained Washington sought to "punish" it, apparently over Georgia.

"They also agreed that the two governments should be in close contact to signal that the P5-plus-One process is intact," Fried said, referring to the six-country negotiations on Iran.