Iran praises Russia, China for opposing sanctions

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman today praised Russia and China for their opposition to the US drive to impose UN sanctions on Iran for its nuclear programme.

“I have to commend Russia and China for their position. Russia and China have shown an independent policy,” Hamid Reza Asefi said in Tehran.

Russia and China have opposed calls by the United States, Britain and France for a resolution that would threaten sanctions against Iran if its does not stop enriching uranium, a process that produces fuel for nuclear reactors or material for atomic bombs.

The US and some of its allies accuse Tehran of using its civilian nuclear programme as a cover to produce nuclear weapons. Tehran denies this, saying its nuclear programme is merely to generate electricity.

The foreign ministers of the “big five” UN Security Council members and Germany are due to meet in Vienna, Austria, on Thursday to discuss proposals intended to reward Iran if it gives up uranium enrichment and punish it if it does not.

Asefi said his government would reject any demand by the six countries for Iran to halt enrichment.

“Definitely, we won’t accept it. It’s natural that we won’t give up our rights,” he told reporters.

Iran maintains that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty it has the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes, such as the production of reactor fuel.

However, earlier this week Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Javad Zarif, was quoted by local newspapers as saying the country could curb its enrichment to resolve the crisis.

Asefi did not dispute Zarif’s comment, but stressed that Tehran would continue its programme as planned.

“The issue of a halt (to our uranium enrichment) is not on our agenda. Iran is continuing its activities,” he said.

The Security Council gave Iran until the end of April to suspend enrichment. But Iran ignored the demand and announced last month that it had successfully enriched uranium for the first time and was conducting research on advanced centrifuges to accelerate its production of the material.

While Russia and China have declared their opposition to Iranian enrichment, they have opposed the tough measures that the United States wants to insert in a draft Security Council resolution on the issue. Moscow and Beijing have strong commercial ties with Iran.