MOSCOW -- If Hillary Clinton was hoping to win Russian support for efforts to use a threat of sanctions to pressure Iran to come clean about its nuclear ambitions, her first trip to Moscow as secretary of state got off to a rocky start Tuesday.

Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, said that economic sanctions or similar moves during the current standoff with Iran about its nuclear program would be ``counterproductive.''

Clinton's response was measured -- she said that America also wants to pursue dialogue with Iran -- but her remarks made it clear that Tehran's gestures have yet to convince the Obama administration that Iran is willing to negotiate. ``We have always looked at the potential of sanctions in the event that we are not successful, that we cannot assure ourselves and others that Iran has decided not to pursue nuclear weapons,'' Clinton said at a joint news conference.

Lavrov said that the Geneva meetings at the beginning of this month between Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, plus Germany, were promising enough to shelve talk, for now, of punitive measures.

Iran has agreed in principle to allow international inspectors at a previously secret nuclear facility near Qom -- the first round is set for Oct. 25 -- and to ship most of its enriched uranium to Russia to be refined for civilian uses.

Lavrov's announcement came despite President Barack Obama's decision to scrap plans for a ballistic missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, a system that the Kremlin had strenuously opposed.

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