“We have always supported the Iranian people’s right to modern technology, including the peaceful use of atomic energy,” he told his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Beijing.

Russia is aware of Tehran’s position, “which is that Iran is not working on the development of nuclear weapons,” Putin said.

“That is our assumption,” he added.

Western nations and Israel are seeking to persuade Iran to give up its uranium enrichment program, which they suspect is aimed at producing nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is merely designed to generate energy.

Tehran said on Wednesday failure to draft an agenda for the upcoming nuclear talks in Moscow was not conducive to their success.

The United States has warned it will tighten sanctions against Iran if the Moscow negotiations fail to make progress on the Islamic Republic's nuclear program.