Russia says further anti-Iran sanctions futile

Moscow said on Saturday that imposing additional sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear energy program will most likely prove to be of no avail.

"I believe that in this particular situation, the effectiveness of [additional] sanctions is highly doubtful," said Russian Foreign Ministry Deputy Sergei Ryabkov, who represented Moscow at the meeting of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (P5+1).

Meanwhile, an EU official said the six powers would continue to seek a diplomatic solution to the issue. However, he added that the P5+1 members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the US plus Germany — would also begin considering new sanctions.

"We will continue to seek a negotiated solution, but consideration of appropriate further measures has also begun," senior European Union security adviser Robert Cooper, who chaired the meeting, said on Sunday, without specifying the possible measures.

Although Cooper said that his statement was made on behalf of the P5+1, Ryabkov stressed that the six powers decided against new sanctions on Tehran.

The Russian deputy foreign minister added that the six powers had agreed to study new political methods to solve the issue.

"We will look at which measures can be developed in order to stimulate political and diplomatic solutions to the problem at hand," said Ryabkov.

"This does not mean that we have made a decision in regard to sanctions, this is the fulfillment of the mandate given by our ministers to complete a collective evaluation of the situation to decide what can be done further," the Russian official added.

"We do believe there is still time for meaningful political engagement, and efforts to find a solution. That's something that Russia has always advocated," he said.

P5+1 members had come together in the US capital to discuss possible new sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Russia and China reportedly opposed any new measures. Beijing even sent a lower-level diplomat to show its reluctance to support tougher sanctions pushed by the West.

The US and its European allies were seeking to impose a new round of sanctions against Tehran, targeting certain high-ranking officials from Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps and some of its affiliated companies.

Washington and its allies accuse Tehran of pursuing a military nuclear program. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), however, has repeatedly said that it has found no evidence supporting the allegation.

The IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities, confirming the non-diversion of nuclear material in country's functional and under-construction plants.

Iran also denies the allegation, saying that it needs nuclear energy to produce electricity to meet the country's growing demand.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116378§ionid=351020104.