Larijani's talks in Moscow on Friday stretched on for more than five and a half hours.

With Russia calling for major changes that would water down the proposed sanctions, the visit appeared to highlight divisions among the five permanent Security Council members over how to deal with Iran's refusal to halt its enrichment program.

In comments that dovetailed with Russia's warnings that too much pressure could deepen Iran's defiance, Larijani warned that Tehran would reconsider its ties with the International Atomic Energy Agency if the council adopted the European proposal.

"We will reconsider relations with the IAEA if the United Nations passes the ... resolution ignoring Russia's amendments," Russian news agencies quoted him as saying. Iran has repeatedly threatened to respond to sanctions by blocking IAEA inspections of its nuclear facilities.

The five permanent UN Security Council members and Germany offered Iran a package of economic incentives and political rewards in June if it agreed to freeze its uranium enrichment effort. But Tehran has said it would continue enrichment, a process that is central to both civilian power generation and the production of nuclear weapons.

The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty allows for peaceful nuclear power programs, but Iran's activities and its secrecy have led to fears it is seeking nuclear weapons. Larijani insisted that was not the case, saying that "nuclear weapons have no place in our defense doctrine," Russian news agencies reported.

The European draft resolution would order all countries to ban the supply of material and technology that could contribute to Iran's nuclear and missile programs.

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