Russian Envoy Conveys Lavrov's Message to Iranian FM....Get ready for higher oil prices.

Russian Envoy Conveys Lavrov's Message to Iranian FM....Get ready for higher oil prices.(Fars).Tehran - Russian Ambassador to Tehran Leon Jagarian on Saturday conveyed a message from Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi. The verbal message was conveyed to Salehi in a meeting at the venue of the Iranian foreign ministry on Saturday morning. During the meeting, the two diplomats also discussed bilateral issues as well as regional and international developments. The message came after Lavrov reiterated Moscow's opposition to any further UN sanctions and actions by other nations and groups, including the EU oil ban which comes into force in July, and warned the European Union that its ban on purchasing Iranian oil would end up hurting the bloc's member states. "The European Union is rejecting purchases of Iranian oil, even though very many EU countries depend on this oil," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview on state-run Rossiya 24 television. "One can say, of course, that the deficit will be covered, but (some) refineries are geared specifically to Iranian oil ... and readjusting them will demand substantial investments that the EU can hardly afford now," he said. "The unilateral sanctions to which our Western partners resort, bypassing the Security Council, only strengthen ... those in Iran who are sure the West is not interested in resolving issues linked with non-proliferation of nuclear technologies, but is interested in regime change," Lavrov said. Speaking ahead of a second round of talks next month between Iran and the six world powers - Russia, China, the United States, Britain, France and Germany - he suggested the focus should be on coaxing Tehran into cooperation with the prospect of relief from sanctions. Russia has been calling for a "step-by-step" resolution to the dispute. Iran should be presented with "a concrete and realistic road map, a kind of program that would be based on the principle of an action for an action," Lavrov said. He repeated Russia's proposal that as a start, Iran could freeze the number of centrifuges for uranium enrichment at current levels, while global powers would refrain from imposing new sanctions and freeze a number of boycotts and embargos already imposed against Tehran. Russia says the centrifuge proposal was discussed at an initial round of negotiations in Istanbul. Iranian and Western officials have said little about the proposal. Read the full story here.