Lavrov notes serious progress in talks on Iran nuclear program

© EPA/SALVATORE DI NOLFI

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday noted serious progress in talks on Iran's nuclear program.

"At a meeting with [US Secretary of State John] Kerry and [Iranian Foreign Minister Javad] Zarif, we discussed a number of issues on the Iranian nuclear program," Lavrov said. "We noted serious progress reached at the talks of the P5+1 with Tehran."

"We discussed tasks we have to solve in order to achieve a result within the agreed time frames," he said.

The P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, and France plus Germany) and Tehran have agreed to extend the deadline for an agreement in the talks on Iran's nuclear program to June 30.

Iran says it needs nuclear power to generate electricity, but Western powers led by the United States claim Iran's eventual aim is to create nuclear weapons.