Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks during a press conference in Tehran on September 7, 2009. (Behrouz Mehri/AFP/Getty Images)
Iran handed a package of proposals to world powers on Wednesday, after Western pressure to engage in talks to resolve the dispute over its nuclear programme.
"Based on a brief review of the Iranian papers my impression is there is something there to use," Lavrov told academics and reporters from the Valdai discussion group in Moscow.
"The most important thing is Iran is ready for a comprehensive discussion of the situation, what positive role it can play in Iraq, Afghanistan and the region," he said.
Lavrov said that the United Nations Security Council would not support oil sanctions against Iran , the world's fifth-largest crude exporter.
He said that world powers had agreed to use sanctions only as a way to get Iran to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
"Some of the sanctions under discussion, including oil and oil products, are not a mechanism to force Iran to cooperate -- they are a step to a full blown blockade and I do not think they would be supported at the UN Security Council," he said.
Iran says its nuclear programme is aimed at producing electricity and has repeatedly rejected demands to halt enrichment, which can have both civilian and military purposes.
U.S. President Barack Obama has indicated Iran will face much harsher sanctions, possibly targeting its lifeblood oil sector, if it does not accept good-faith negotiations by the end of September.
