MOSCOW, Nov 5: Russia confirmed on Friday that it opposed Iran's nuclear ambitions coming up for debate at the UN Security Council , where it has veto power, saying such a debate could lead to further regional tensions.

"It is very important to refrain from steps that could lead to further tensions," Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.

He said the issue should be taken up for debate by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog that has periodically sent nuclear inspectors to the country and meets on November 25 to decide whether to haul Tehran before the UN Security Council.

"The IAEA's opportunities to resolve the problems related to Iran's nuclear developments have not been exhausted," Fedotov said. "We are still convinced that these questions have to be decided by the IAEA and not by the UN Security Council," he stressed.

The comments were issued as Iran and the European Union held last-chance talks in Paris seeking a compromise over Tehran's nuclear program in order to head off a US-led bid to bring the matter before the UN Security Council.

The United States hopes that the Vienna-based IAEA will decide to take Iran before the Security Council for running what Washington claims is a secret nuclear weapons program, and that the UN will then impose economic sanctions.

To avert that outcome, Europe is trying to persuade the Islamic Republic to suspend uranium enrichment, a process which makes fuel for civilian reactors but which can also be used to manufacture the material for the explosive core of atomic weapons.

Moscow is in the process of completing Iran's first nuclear power plant in Bushehr, although it has refused to provide fuel for the project until it guarantees its safe return to Russia for reprocessing. -AFP