The comments by Russia's foreign minister and China's UN ambassador were the strongest reactions yet to the draft by the two key UN Security Council members, and signalled difficult negotiations ahead on the resolution drawn up by Britain, France and Germany.

"We cannot support measures that in essence are aimed at isolating Iran from the outside world, including isolating people who are called upon to conduct negotiations on the nuclear programme," the Interfax news agency quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as saying Wednesday.

China's UN Ambassador Wang Guangya said "there are still different views on what kind of actions the council needs to do under the current circumstances."

Wang said "the major concern" is that some members want tough sanctions like those in the resolution that the council approved on Oct. 14 to punish North Korea for conducting a nuclear test.

The European draft on Iran orders all countries to prevent the sale and supply of material and technology that could contribute to Tehran's nuclear and missile programme s. It imposes a travel ban and freezes the assets of people involved in these programme s and also orders countries to freeze the assets of companies and organisations involved in Iran's nuclear and missile programme.

"I think the situation, the cases, are slightly different," Wang said. "Of course, the main concern is nuclear, but I think that North Korea had a test and the Iranians always claim that their programme are for peaceful use."

Unlike North Korea, Iran has signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, he said.

Both Russia and China, which have strong commercial ties to Tehran, agreed in principle to sanctions over Iran's defiance of the council's ultimatum to freeze uranium enrichment and dramatically improve cooperation with the UN probe of suspect Iranian atomic activities.

But both nations have continued to publicly push for dialogue instead of UN punishment, despite the collapse last month of a European Union attempt to entice Iran into talks. The EU had proposed that Iran at least temporarily freeze enrichment as a condition for multilateral talks aimed at erasing suspicions it may be trying to build nuclear arms in violation of its treaty commitments.

Wang said the question is "what is the best way out."

"We want to have a solution of the Iranian nuclear issue, whether sanctions is the right way or whether further negotiation," he said.

The five veto-wielding permanent council members the US, Russia, China, Britain and France were expected to discuss the resolution this week at the United Nations.

Lavrov said that Russia would seek to focus the document on aspects of Iran's programme that the International Atomic Energy Agency has identified as possibly serious risks, including uranium enrichment and a heavy-water reactor, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

While Russia and China signalled the draft resolution is too strong, the United States indicated it considers the draft too weak.

Russia's Security Council chief Igor Ivanov indicated in comment Tuesday that Russia could support sanctions as a way to push Tehran into talks, but also left plenty of room for wrangling in the council.

Speaking Wednesday in Moscow, South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, who will take over as UN secretary-general on Jan. 1, urged Iran to halt uranium enrichment and accept the incentives in return, Interfax reported.

A Russian Defence Ministry official told The Associated Press on Wednesday that his government would fulfill a contract to supply air defence missiles to Iran unless Moscow decides to back the international sanctions that would make it illegal.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, denied an ITAR-Tass report that said Russia had already started delivering the missiles.

Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov defended the $700 million contract signed last December to sell 29 Tor-M1 air defence missile systems to Iran, saying they were purely defensive weapons with a limited range.

Meanwhile, Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards test-fired dozen of missiles, including the long-range Shahab-3, during the first hours of new military manoeuvres, Iranian state-run television said yesterday.

The report said several kinds of short-range missiles were also fired in a central desert area of Iran during the manoeuvres, which came two days after US-led warships finished an exercise in the Gulf that Tehran described as "adventurist."

"We want to show our deterrent and defensive power to trans-regional enemies, and we hope they will understand the message of the manoeuvres," said the head of the Revolutionary Guards, Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, in an apparent reference to the US and other western powers.

The general said the 10-day manoeuvres, named "Great Prophet," would take place in the Gulf, the Sea of Oman and several provinces of the country. He did not specify how many troops were involved.

The Shahab-3 missile is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and is believed to have a range of more than 1,242 miles. It can reach Israel and US forces in the Middle East.

The state-run TV said that among the other weapons tested during the manoeuvres was the Shahab-2, which Iran says has a cluster warhead that can send 1,400 bomblets at the same time. Solid-fuel Zalzal missiles also were launched, as were guided missiles as well as Scud-B, Zolfaghar-73 and Z-3, it said.

The manoeuvres came as the UN Security Council considered sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, which Tehran says is purely geared at civilian use but that the US and other western powers fear could hide research on an atomic bomb.