Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Russia isn't expecting a breakthrough as it meets an Iranian delegation arrived in Moscow to discuss a Russian proposal aimed at breaking the international deadlock over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program.

``Our expectations are, honesty speaking, reserved,'' Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Russian President Vladimir Putin at a cabinet meeting that was aired on state television. ``We will make all necessary efforts to prevent the situation from worsening, from moving into a direction of force.''

Seyed Ali Hosseini-Tash, deputy secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, is leading a group that includes six other officials, state news agency RIA Novosti reported.

The Russian government is proposing to carry out uranium enrichment for Iran and then deliver the fuel to the Islamic Republic, a compromise designed to allay international concerns about the country developing nuclear weapons while guaranteeing Iran access to nuclear fuel. Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Feb. 11 expressed doubts about the proposal.

The Moscow talks, set for about 2 p.m. local time, take place two weeks before the United Nations' nuclear watchdog meets in Vienna to decide whether to ask the UN Security Council to take action against Iran. The International Atomic Energy Agency voted on Feb. 4 to refer Iran, the Middle East's second-largest oil producer, to the Security Council for possible censure or sanctions.

Uranium Enrichment

The council has delayed taking up the issue formally until after a March 6 IAEA meeting.

Iran last week ignored IAEA calls to suspend uranium enrichment activities, resuming the process for ``research only'' at its Natanz plant, Gholam-Reza Aqazadeh, the head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, said on state television on Feb. 15.

Other officials, including government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham, have said resumption of industrial-scale uranium enrichment will resume before March 6.

Fuel enrichment, which uses a gas obtained through uranium conversion, can be used to produce weapons-grade uranium. It's the third step in mastering the nuclear fuel cycle, which includes mining, conversion, enrichment and reprocessing.

Iran says that its nuclear program is intended to produce energy for civilian use. The U.S. and the European Union say they are concerned that the program is a front for the development of nuclear weapons.

The Islamic Republic has already paid Russia as much as $1 billion to build a nuclear plant capable of generating about 1,000 megawatts of electricity in the southern city of Bushehr.

To contact the reporter on this story: Todd Prince in Moscow at Tprince2@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 20, 2006 06:34 EST