Lavrov: No proof Iran working on nuclear weapons

Russia’s foreign minister says Moscow will not agree to harsh sanctions against Iran, reasoning that there is nothing to prove Tehran is working on nuclear weapons.

“There is no evidence that Iran has made a decision to produce nuclear weapons,” Sergei Lavrov said in a recent interview with RIA Novosti.

Lavrov went on to add hat he did not believe that sanctions were an effective course to take.

“If we go with the sanctions, we’ll not go beyond the goal of our purpose of defending the nonproliferation regime.

“We don’t want the nonproliferation regime to be used for … strangling Iran, or taking some steps to deteriorate the situation [and] the living standards of people in Iran,” he said clarifing that Moscow did not plan to agree to embargoes that could seriously damage Iran’s economy.

Russia’s foreign minister, however, said Tehran had to clarify several key issues on its nuclear program to avoid fresh sanctions from world powers.

“I cannot rule out that the UN Security Council will have to consider the situation once again,” he said.

Lavrov did urge the Islamic Republic to answer all the questions posed by the International Atomic Energy Agency, but he acknowledged Iran’s right to carry out nuclear activities.

He told the reporters that as it said in its latest report, the International Atomic Energy Agency continued to monitor Iran’s nuclear activities.

“Of course, the agency also reports traditionally that it cannot be 100% sure that Iran does not have some secret nuclear activities,” Lavrov said, implying that the UN nuclear watchdog’s latest report was not raising any new suspicions.

World powers, led by the US, accuse Tehran of pursuing military applications under the guise of a civilian nuclear program, despite the fact that IAEA inspectors stationed in Iran have been unable to substantiate their claim.

Last week, the new IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano issued his first report on Iran’s nuclear program, once again verifying the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran.

Amano’s report, however, did raise some concerns about “the possible existence… of past or current undisclosed activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile.”

While the US used that segment of the report to once again threaten Iran with sanctions, Tehran pointed out that the report raised no “new cause for concern”, but simply addressed a series of past issues already examined former IAEA Chief Mohamed ElBaradei.

In an interview with Press TV, Iran’s Ambassador to the IAEA Ali-Asghar Soltanieh said that he had asked the director general why he had included a reference to past issues regarding Tehran’s nuclear program in his first report on Iran.

According Soltanieh, Amano had responded by acknowledging that his reference to the alleged studies was “absolutely nothing new” but simply an attempt to provide a background on all previous issues regarding Iran’s nuclear program.

“There is nothing new. The alleged studies were forged… two or three times, Mr. ElBaradei officially announced that there is no authenticity to these materials. Therefore, the director general has already questioned the validity of these materials.

“Mr. Amano only tried to bring a full background on the issues that were discussed before for the reader to understand the background. Of course it unfortunately has created some misunderstandings,” said Soltanieh.