MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia on Thursday said it would continue military cooperation with Iran amid widespread unease in the West over Moscows controversial contract to sell advanced anti-aircraft missiles to Tehran. The Russian Federation implements and plans to further implement the military-technical cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran in strict accordance with existing legislation and its international obligations, Russias Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation said. The service released a rare statement after the Interfax agency, citing a Russian government source, reported earlier this week that Iran had not yet paid Russia for the S-300 anti-aircraft missiles. The source said no payments had been made because Russias government has not given its final approval for the sale of S-300 missiles to Iran. We cant give comments regarding concrete plans or obligations with regards to existing contracts as it would mean becoming an unreliable partner (and) give potential competitors a chance to take advantage of the situation, the military service said. Thursdays statement is likely to fuel further unease in the West over Russias cooperation with Iran. Russia has so far refused to discuss tougher sanctions against Tehran, which the West suspects of seeking to obtain nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, Russia Thursday praised talks aimed at defusing the standoff on Irans nuclear programme as civilized but cautioned that it was too early to draw conclusions on the extent of progress. Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said that the talks testify that we can resolve in a civilized and mutually respectful manner the questions that are a matter of interest for the participants. Consultations are still continuing. Lets wait for their end and an announcement of concrete results, Nesterenko said. Diplomats say the UN atomic watchdog drew up a draft agreement on Wednesday for Russia to process Iranian low-enriched uranium to the 20 percent required by a research reactor in Tehran and for France to turn it into fuel form. The draft deal was brokered after talks between Iran, Russia, the United States and France, Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Wednesday. ElBaradei said that the tentative deadline for approval of the draft agreement was Friday. ElBaradei declined to reveal any details about the draft document, but diplomats said it included demands that Iran ship out most of its stockpile of low-enriched uranium for further processing by another country.