The head of t he International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has called for calm in the standoff between the US and Iran over it's nuclear research.
Mr Mohamed El Baradei urged Western and Iranian leaders to "lower the rhetoric" in a standoff over Iranian nuclear work bound for the UN Security Council next week.
"What we need now at this stage is a cool-headed approach, to lower the rhetoric. The Middle East is a very volatile area," he said as the International Atomic Energy Agency board of governors ended a three-day meeting in Vienna.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today the imposition of any UN Security Council sanctions on Iran would prove ineffective in convincing Tehran to curb its nuclear ambitions.
Mr Lavrov, speaking to reporters after talks with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, also ruled out a military solution to the Iran crisis.
"We are convinced that there is no military solution to this crisis," Lavrov said, saying that British and German officials had publicly stated they shared that view.
"I don't think sanctions as a means to solve a crisis have ever achieved a goal in the recent history," he said.
Asked whether the Security Council should raise the possibility of sanctions after the IAEA board sent the 15-nation UN body its latest report on Iran , he said the situation reminded him of the council's consideration of whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction before the US-led 2003 invasion.
"It looks so deja vu, you know," he said. "I have been answering these questions regarding Iraq and I don't believe we should engage in something which might become self-fulfilling prophesy."
The United States and Britain led the invasion of Iraq without Security Council authorisation after arguing that Baghdad was concealing weapons of mass destruction, but no nuclear, biological or chemical arms were later found.
Agencies