Russia, US agree to hold ministerial talks on Iran

The United States and Russia have agreed to hold further ministerial-level meetings in the future in a bid to stop Iran's sensitive nuclear work, a senior U.S. official said Wednesday.

State Department official Daniel Fried told reporters the agreement was reached in talks in New York between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, their first since tensions soared over the Georgia conflict last month.

Fried said both agreed that they should have a ministers meeting in the future, but set no date.

The United States and its P5-plus-one partners, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany, decided to call off a meeting this week in New York after Moscow complained Washington sought to "punish" it, apparently over Georgia.

"They also agreed that the two governments should be in close contact to signal that the P5-plus-One process is intact," Fried said, referring to the six-country negotiations on Iran.