Both US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday called on Iran to return to the negotiating table.

Lavrov reiterated that Russia still objects the draft resolution requiring Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter.

He told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York that "we don't believe it necessary to discuss it at this stage," referring to Chapter 7.

Meanwhile, he called on Iran to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), saying if Iran cooperates, negotiations would resume like they took place in the past between European Troika and Iran with support of Russia, China and the United States.

The Russian foreign minister made the remarks after attending Security Council's ministerial meeting on the Sudan issue. He said foreign ministers of the six major powers did not talk about the language of the draft resolution on Iran's nuclear issue Monday night.

"We just discussed the overall situation with the nuclear program of Iran," he said. "Russia is always convinced that we all have the common goal which is to make sure the nonproliferation regime is not violated."

"This is shared by all participants of the six-party talks, and this is shared by everybody in this building," he stressed.

Lavrov said the foreign ministers discussed ways and means on how to achieved the goal, observing that it should be solved through direct negotiations between all interested parties.

"We can find a solution which would on one hand guarantee the invulnerability of the nonproliferation regime and on other hand guarantee the right of responsible members of NPT for peaceful use of nuclear energy," he added.

Rice told reporters that Iran has no other choice but to obey by the requirements of the IAEA and the Security Council.

She said that foreign minister have a total agreement at the Monday's meeting that Iran can not be allowed to have nuclear weapons, and admitted that it will take time to consider what tactics should be adopted to achieve the object.

"We're going to take the time that we need to make certain that the members of the international community have an opportunity to develop a strategy moving forward," Rice added.

She also noted that political directors of the six major powers will meet next week to talk about how to move forward.

"The international community is united that there must be a strong message to Iran through the Security Council that their behavior to date is not acceptable and they need to return to the negotiating table," Rice stressed.

Foreign ministers from six major countries held intensive discussions on Iran's controversial nuclear program on Monday, but made no progress on a unified position.