U.S. President George W. Bush and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed the Iran sanctions issue through telephone on Saturday and both agreed to keep a unified stand on the issue, the White House said.

"They agreed on the need to move forward with a resolution in the U.N. Security Council and stressed the importance of maintaining a unified position on Iran's nuclear program," the White House said in a statement.

Meanwhile, reports from the United Nations said that Russia is ready to support the draft resolution imposing sanctions on Iran for its defiance over its nuclear program.

The United States has hoped that the draft resolution, put forward by Britain, France and Germany, can be passed by the U.N. Security Council on Saturday.

The United States has been seeking to impose sanctions on Iran through the U.N. Security Council on the grounds that the Islamic country develops a nuclear weapon program under the cover of a civilian program. However, Iran has said that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Source: Xinhua