Russia will not support "excessive" sanctions against its
economic partner Iran, its foreign minister said Wednesday, as the
UN Security Council considered imposing harsher measures intended
to push Teheran to freeze its nuclear program.
Sergey Lavrov also denied allegations that Moscow has told Iran
it would not deliver nuclear fuel for the Russian-built Bushehr
nuclear plant unless Teheran complies with the United Nations'
demands.
"There is no link whatsoever between the UN resolution ... and
the implementation of the Bushehr project," Lavrov told lawmakers
in the lower parliament house.
European and US officials who spoke on condition of anonymity
because of the sensitivity of the talks said on Tuesday that Moscow
had bluntly told Teheran it would not ship fuel for Bushehr until
Teheran freezes its uranium enrichment program, as demanded by the
UN Security Council.
Lavrov dismissed the claims as an "unscrupulous trick."
"It's not the first time that we are seeing such an unscrupulous
approach aimed at driving a wedge between us and Iran," he
said.
He said Russia "will not support excessive sanctions against
Iran," adding that the draft resolution has been softened at
Moscow's behest.
Russia has said fuel for Bushehr would not be supplied this
month, as had been planned earlier, because of alleged Iranian
payment delays that prompted Moscow to indefinitely postpone the
reactor's launch, which had been set for September.
Proposed new sanctions in a draft resolution now before the
Security Council would ban Iranian arms exports and freeze the
assets of 28 additional individuals and organizations involved in
the country's nuclear and missile programs. The package also calls
for voluntary restrictions on travel by the individuals subject to
sanctions, on arms sales to Iran, and on new financial assistance
or loans to the Iranian government. No date has been set for a
vote.
Lavrov said that an earlier, tougher version of the draft
resolution that included broader restrictions on officials' travel
and a ban on credits to Iran had been softened on Russia's advice.
"We ... have agreed to influence Iran by gradually applying
proportionate pressure," Lavrov said.
He said that amendments introduced by South Africa, Indonesia
and other nations "merit the most serious consideration."
South Africa's proposed amendments would drastically weaken the
draft resolution by authorizing a 90-day "time out" on all
sanctions, dropping an embargo on arms exports and eliminating
financial sanctions targeting Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards and
an Iranian bank.
(China Daily via agencies, March 22, 2007)
