Russia against US sanctions on Iran

Head of Iran-Russia friendship association Alexander Palishok

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/162188.html

A Russian political analyst says Moscow is opposed to unilateral US sanctions against Iran's nuclear program, describing such one-sided measures as unacceptable.

Head of Iran-Russia friendship association Alexander Palishok told IRNA on Wednesday that Russia believes that one-sided US sanctions against Iran are unacceptable and should be lifted.

He said that the Islamic Republic has the right to develop a peaceful nuclear program, reiterating that Russia supports Iran's nuclear activities.

Iran is pursuing its nuclear program within the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Palishok said.

He went on to say that Tehran has every reason to defend its nuclear program, criticizing the West's approach toward Iran's nuclear program as wrong and unacceptable.

This comes as Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday dismissed US-led allegations that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program.

"The international community so far has no proof that Iran is building nuclear weapons," he said at the annual World Economic Forum on Wednesday.

The US and its Western allies have been repeating a rhetorical claim alleging that Iran may be secretly pursuing nuclear weapons, a claim vehemently rejected by Tehran and in an obvious contradiction to numerous inspection reports by the IAEA verifying non-diversion of Iran's civilian nuclear program.

The Islamic Republic, among the original countries to sign the NPT, has initiated the idea of a Middle East free of nuclear arms. Iran has also insisted on a global elimination of nuclear weapons, a call ignored by major nuclear powers.

Apart from the UN Security Council resolutions, Iran is under unilateral US sanctions over its nuclear program.

Iran has described the sanctions as illegal, insisting that the NPT, to which it is a signatory, gives it the right to benefit from the peaceful applications of nuclear technology.