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Russia opposes new sanctions on Iran

The remark underscored a divide between Russia, a veto-wielding UN Security Council member, and the West over how to react to a report by the UN nuclear watchdog that deepened US and European suspicions about Tehran’s nuclear intentions.

“Any additional sanctions against Iran will be seen in the international community as an instrument for regime change in Tehran. That approach is unacceptable to us, and the Russian side does not intend to consider such proposals,” Interfax quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov as saying.

In a report released on Tuesday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Iran appeared to have worked on designing an atomic bomb and may still be conducting secret research.

A US official said the United States could impose more sanctions on Iran. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said the Security Council should be convened and that Paris was ready to adopt “unprecedented” sanctions if Tehran refused to cooperate with efforts to ensure it is not pursuing nuclear weapons.

Russia has grudgingly approved four rounds of UN sanctions on Iran after watering them down with China. But it has criticised Western states for imposing additional punitive measures and signalled in recent months that it would oppose a new push for sanctions in the Security Council.

Russia has close ties with Iran and built a nuclear power plant that was switched on in the Islamic republic this year. It has repeatedly said too much pressure on Tehran is counterproductive.

Russia is instead calling for a step-by-step process under which existing sanctions would be eased in return for actions by Tehran to dispel international concerns.

Moscow criticises release of IAEA report

A senior Iranian official was in Moscow on Wednesday for talks expected to focus on the nuclear issue. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has said Russia will continue to seek international support for the step-by-step proposal.

Moscow criticised the release of the IAEA report on Tuesday, saying it seemed to be designed to scuttle diplomatic efforts and would dim hopes for new talks between Iran and six powers — Russia, China, the United States, Britain, France and Germany.

The Foreign Ministry said it would need time to study the report and determine whether it contained reliable new evidence of a military dimension to Tehran’s nuclear programme or was nothing but an intentional “whipping up of emotions”.

Senior Russian security officials accept that the West has legitimate concerns about Iran’s nuclear programme. But officials, including Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who is expected to return to the presidency next year, have said there is no clear evidence Iran is trying to develop a nuclear bomb.

Analysts say Moscow may have calculated that it has little to gain from supporting new sanctions against Iran, which would hurt ties already damaged by its backing of the most recent measures in June 2010, when President Dmitry Medvedev also scrapped a deal to deliver air-defence missiles to Tehran.

Those sanctions were adopted at a time of improving relations between Russia and the United States, after President Barack Obama downsized a European missile defence plan that Russia opposed and signed a landmark nuclear arms limitation treaty with Medvedev.