The European Union supported the idea of setting up a joint venture in Russia to enrich uranium for Iran, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said in Moscow on Saturday.

"I should say we share these concerns. It is important to prevent Iran from developing its nuclear potential." Barroso said when speaking to journalists in Moscow on Saturday.

Barroso met Russian President Vladimir Putin on energy cooperation on Friday after his arrival.

Russia proposed last December to establish a joint venture in Russia to enrich uranium for Iran in order to remove Western fear that Iran would divert the nuclear technology to making nuclear bomb.

Iran has insisted on its right to peacefully use nuclear energy.