G8 foreign ministers express concern over Iran's nuclear program

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Trieste at a news conference that the global community needs to reach "a peaceful settlement" on Iran's nuclear ambitions since Tehran will most likely not change its mind on developing nuclear energy.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said there were a number of short- and long-term issues in regard to the Iranian nuclear program, and very little time remained to solve them.

"We want the doors to remain open for Iran, but dialogue should not exist just for the purpose of dialogue," Frattini said.

Frattini said the world community needed to understand how Iran would respond to the G8's outstretched hand "in the next few months," because the issue will be brought up at the UN General Assembly in September.

Lavrov and Frattini also expressed concern over violence in Iran after the June 12 presidential elections.

"We, of course, have expressed serious concern over the use of force and the deaths of civilians, but we will not interfere in Iran's internal affairs and believe that all of the issues that have surfaced in regard to the elections will be solved in accordance with democratic procedures," the Russian foreign minister said.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's landslide victory on June 12 sparked mass protests amid opposition allegations of ballot fraud. At least 13 people are reported to have been killed according to Iranian media and over 450 arrested in the largest challenge to the Islamic Revolution since the 1979 overthrow of the U.S.-backed shah, Kazinform cites RIA Novosti. See www.en.rian.ru for full version.