The Russian foreign ministry has ruled out plans by the US, Britain and France to impose new sanctions on Iran following the release of a UN report that claims Iran may be trying to develop nuclear weapons.
Russian deputy foreign minister, Gennadi Gatilov, told Interfax news agency
“The world community will see all additional sanctions against Iran as an instrument of regime change in Tehran,”
“This approach is unacceptable to us, and the Russian side does not intend to consider such a proposal.”
In a statement the Russian foreign ministry called the report “a compilation of well-known facts that have intentionally been given a politicized intonation.”
The statement claims the report’s authors “resort to assumptions and suspicions, and juggle information with the purpose of creating the impression that the Iranian nuclear program has a military component.”
Russia’s dismissal of the report was “stronger than I would have expected,” said Cliff Kupchan, a senior analyst at the Eurasia Group, a consulting firm, according to the New York Times.
“Russia has sought to stay in reasonable step with the U.S., and its reaction today sharply rebuts U.S. policy,”
“The Russian view is that this report revealed details, did not draw conclusions, alienated the sides from diplomacy and is not constructive.”
China on the other hand has been comparatively quiet, saying on Wednesday it is still studying the report and appealed to all sides to “facilitate dialogue and cooperation”.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu has accused Iran of endangering world peace.
"The significance of the report is that the international community must bring about the cessation of Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons which endanger the peace of the world and of the Middle East”
"The IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] report corroborates the position of the international community and of Israel that Iran is developing nuclear weapons," Mr Netanyahu said in a statement.
