A congressional report advises Barack Obama to encourage Russia with more carrots in a bid to push forward Washington's foreign policy on Iran.

A bipartisan commission, headed by former senators Gary Hart and Chuck Hagel, recommended US President Barack Obama on Monday to make 'a genuine effort to develop a cooperative approach against the shared threat from Iranian or other missiles', AFP reported.

The advisory report, handed out to Obama's Deputy Joe Biden and the National Security Adviser Jim Jones, encouraged the US president to smooth down Russia's entry to the World Trade Organization and withdraw Washington's Cold War economic sanction on Moscow -- the Jackson-Vanik amendment.

It also urged Obama to avoid confrontation with the Kremlin by curbing the eastward expansion of NATO, noting that the president should "accept that neither Ukraine nor Georgia is ready for NATO membership and work closely with US allies to develop options other than NATO membership to demonstrate a commitment to their sovereignty."

"A special relationship with NATO short of membership could serve the same function as membership, and would be a useful way to ensure that those Ukrainians and Georgians seeking to join NATO do not become discouraged," it went on to read.

The report also recommended that the US administration 'take a new look at missile-defense deployments in Poland and the Czech Republic' in order to eliminate White House-Kremlin tensions.

The Democrat Gary Hart and Republican Chuck Hagel wrote the report a week after meeting with the Russian President Dmitri Medvedev.

ARQN/MMA