The announcement was made at a joint news conference held here by Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov who arrived for a two-day visit earlier in the day.

The visit is expected to focus on the two countries' nuclear cooperation in talks with Kharrazi and Iran's pointman on nuclear issues, Hassan Rowhani.

The Russian foreign minister is also preparing for President Vladimir Putin's visit to the Islamic Republic, the date of which has yet to be worked out between the two countries.

Russia is helping Iran build the country's first nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr, but is pressured by the United States to abandon the project.

Washington accuses Tehran of using the project as a cover to build an atomic bomb, a charge which Iran denies, stressing that the entire program is aimed at electricity generation.

Russia has repeatedly shrugged off US pressures and vowed to continue its cooperation with Iran as long as the country complies with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

"Moscow's principled stance is that Iran must develop the nuclear program within the framework of the IAEA regime and nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty," the official Itar-Tass news agency said Sunday on the occasion of the visit.

Last month, Russia announced that it is opposed to reporting Iran to the UN Security Council, as demanded by the United States and Israel.

"Iran has shown in a justifiable matter that it must have access, like other countries, to new technologies, including nuclear technology used for peaceful purposes," Igor Ivanov, chief of Russia's Security Council, was cited as saying.

"This is a viable justification and that is why Russia is cooperating with Iran," he added.

An Iranian MP lauded Russia for following up an independent policy from the West in dealing with Iran's nuclear program.

The MP from the northwestern city of Orumieh, Javad Jahangirzadeh, said that Lavrov's visit would help the two countries 'rebuild their mutual trust'.

"The Russian foreign minister's visit to Iran at this juncture, given the consensus of the Americans and certain other countries in opposing Iran's peaceful nuclear activities, can be fruitful," he said.

Itar-Tass said fighting terrorism and the two countries' cooperation in this field will also feature prominently in the discussions between Lavrov and Iranian officials.

"Both Russia and Iran are equally interested in preventing the use of this region by terrorists and extremists," the news agency quoted the Russian foreign minister as saying.

Lavrov, quoted by Itar-Tass, also described the two countries' positions on the fight against terrorism as 'very close'.

He said the two sides will further discuss the situation in the Middle East, the Persian Gulf and Central Asia, as well as issues relating to the legal regime of the Caspian Sea.

The sea, traditionally known for its caviar reserve, straddles Kazakhstan, Russia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Iran.

The five states have tried to keep a lid on their differences since the legal regime of the land-locked waters was catapulted to the core of the dispute following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Tehran has stressed that the legal regime of the Caspian Sea must be specified through a blanket consensus of all the coastal states.

A large number of meetings have been held, but the coastal states have so far fallen short of finding a common ground with regard to the legal status of the sea.

The five coastal states of the Caspian Sea have to first iron out a host of fundamental differences and answer key questions, notably whether to consider the Caspian a sea or a lake.

Iran calls for a condominium, or common sovereignty, over the sea and has made it known that it will reject any unilateral action for energy exploration in the sea before the issue of the legal regime is settled.