**US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has told the BBC that Russia now recognises the threat posed by Iran.**Wrapping up a European tour in Moscow, Mrs Clinton said Russian leaders had in private said they were ready to act if Tehran did not meet its obligations.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday sanction threats against Iran were counterproductive.
On Afghanistan, Mrs Clinton denied any US uncertainty on how to move forward, and said progress had been made.
Iran denies it is developing nuclear weapons, but the US, the EU and Israel say Tehran is trying to build a bomb under the cover of a civilian nuclear energy programme.
“*We are in total agreement *”
Hillary Clinton
A Russian policy shift on Iran
Mrs Clinton told the BBC on Wednesday that Russia in the past six months had “moved tremendously” to acknowledge the threat of Iran’s nuclear programme.
She said Russian officials, in private, had recognised the need to act if diplomacy fails.
“We are in total agreement on all of that,” Mrs Clinton told the BBC.
“And we are also in agreement that if our diplomatic engagement is not successful then we have to look at other measures to take, including sanctions to try to pressure the Iranians.”
As a permanent UN Security Council member, Russia would need to back any fresh sanctions against Iran.
Iran agreed at a 1 October meeting in Geneva to allow UN inspectors into a previously secret nuclear site near its holy city of Qom, and to send low-enriched uranium abroad for enrichment to a higher level.
Mrs Clinton acknowledged to the BBC that Tehran had bought itself more time with this move.
The US secretary of state could not meet Russia’s key decision-maker, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, as he was visiting China.
Later, she headed for Kazan, the capital of the religiously and ethnically diverse region of Tatarstan, east of Moscow.
Her five-day European trip has included stops in Zurich, London and Belfast.
Earlier, Mrs Clinton urged Russia to respect human rights and democracy.
She was pressed by reporters on the failure of Russian authorities to find the killer of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, and on the imprisonment of ex-tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
“I think we want the government to stand up and say this is wrong,” she told Moscow radio station Echo.