By Daniel Flynn and Adrian Croft
TRIESTE, Italy (Reuters) - Group of Eight powers on Friday deplored violence in Iran after the disputed presidential election and called on Tehran to resolve the crisis peacefully.
But the G8 foreign ministers were careful not to slam the door on possible talks with Iran over its nuclear program. They encouraged Tehran to accept an offer of nuclear negotiations although they said it had a limited time to do so.
On Middle East peace efforts, the ministers called in a statement on Israelis and Palestinians to resume negotiations and backed U.S. President Barack Obama's call for a total freeze on construction in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, including "natural growth" of existing settlements.
The Quartet of Middle East peace negotiators, which also met in the Italian port city of Trieste, will make a similar call for a freeze on settlement activity, a European diplomat said.
The G8 also said a nuclear test conducted last month by North Korea was a "threat to regional peace and stability."
About 20 people were killed in protests over Iran's June 12 election result, the worst unrest since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Iran has accused the United States and Britain of inciting the protests.
"We deplore post-electoral violence, which led to the loss of lives of Iranian civilians. We...urge Iran to respect fundamental human rights," said the G8, which includes the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and Russia.
Official results handed hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a landslide victory. Defeated candidate Mirhossein Mousavi said the vote was rigged.
Most Western nations have refrained from calling into question the election result, but German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said it was "doubtful" that the results given by Iranian leaders were correct.
SIGNIFICANT CONCERNS
U.S. Undersecretary of State William Burns, deputising for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, said: "It's clear that there is a significant percentage of Iranians who continue to have significant concerns about the fairness and legitimacy of the elections."
Iran's top legislative body, the Guardian Council, said on Friday it had found no major violations in the election, which it called the "healthiest" vote since the 1979 revolution.
Moscow was quick to congratulate Ahmadinejad on winning the election, but Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Friday voiced serious concern about the use of force in Iran.
The G8 called for the crisis to be settled through "democratic dialogue and peaceful means" and urged the government to "guarantee that the will of the Iranian people is reflected in the electoral process."
The G8 voiced deep concern over Iran's nuclear program but said it remained committed to a diplomatic solution. Tehran says the program is for peaceful purposes but Western nations suspect it of trying to build nuclear weapons.
The United States and five other powers invited Iran to nuclear talks in April after Washington dropped its opposition to direct talks. But Iran has not taken up the offer.
"We sincerely hope that Iran will seize this opportunity to give diplomacy a chance to find a negotiated solution to the nuclear issue," the G8 statement said.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said the offer must not be kept open for an unlimited time. "We've said we'll meet up in a few months to evaluate if Iran has decided to finally commit to nuclear negotiations," he told a news conference.
