Russia: New Iran sanctions not on agenda

Whilst the US threatens Iran with consequences, Russia rules out the possibility of additional UN Security Council sanctions against Tehran at the present juncture.

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Andrei Nesterenko, said on Thursday that there was as yet no talk of new sanctions at the UN Security Council.

“Currently there is no discussion about working out additional sanction measures against Iran at the UN Security Council,” he said in a statement.

“At the current moment it is important to let diplomacy work, and superfluous emotions only harm the situation,” he added.

The mid-October nuclear draft, discussed in Vienna, envisages Iran shipping out its low-enriched uranium (LEU) to be further enriched and returned to the country for the Tehran medical research reactor.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki citing Tehran’s concerns over the return of the nuclear fuel back into the country announced on Wednesday that Iran would not send its enriched uranium abroad to be further processed for Tehran’s reactor. He said Iran was instead considering doing a simultaneous swap of the uranium on its soil.

“Iran will not send its 3.5-percent-enriched uranium out of the country,” ISNA quoted Mottaki as saying. “That means we are considering exchanging the enriched uranium inside Iran.”

According to Mottaki, Iran prefers to domestically enrich uranium to 20 percent, or buy the 20-percent-enriched uranium that it needs rather than sending its LEU to other countries in order to receive fuel rods later.

US President Barack Obama on Thursday reacted to Mottaki’s announcement, warning that “consequences” may await Iran should it reject the proposal.

“Our expectations are that over the next several weeks we will be developing a package of potential steps that we could take that will indicate our seriousness to Iran.”

In fresh remarks on Thursday, Mottaki rejected the possibility of further sanctions.

“Sanctions were the ‘literature’ of the 60s and 70s,” Mottaki said at a news conference during his visit to the Philippines.

“I think they [the world powers] are wise enough not to repeat failed experiences. Of course it’s totally up to them,” he added.

Iran has called for modifications to the deal, reiterating that its “technical” concerns regarding the proposal have to be addressed.

The US says no alteration will be made to the draft deal, insisting that Iran should accept it unchanged.