Moscow believes that the Iranian nuclear issue could be settled only via political dialogue on a mutual and gradual ground, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

The results of the talks between Iran and the so-called P5+1 group this year in Almaty and Istanbul "show that such a dialogue has a real prospect," ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said.

Moscow, he added, still insists that Iran fully implement the decisions by the UN Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency aimed at ruling out the "possibility that Tehran's nuclear activity would obtain military dimension."

"At the same time, we'll persuade our partners that increasing the sanction pressure is a road to nowhere," Lukashevich said, adding that a threat of use of force against Iran must be completely excluded.

Last week, representatives of Iran and P5+1 countries -- Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany -- as well as European Union envoys held a new round of talks in Kazakhstan's Almaty.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Iran and the six powers "took a step forward" at the Almaty talks but failed to reach a compromise. Endi

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