Last update - 00:00 11/12/2006
Russian FM: UN sanctions won't hinder Tehran's nuclear plant
By The Associated Press
MOSCOW - Russia's foreign minister said Monday that a revised draft of a UN Security Council resolution to sanction Iran over its nuclear program would not disrupt Russia's construction of Iran's first atomic energy plant.
In what appeared to be Russia's first public comments on the new draft, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the proposal was based on Russian amendments and that it wouldn't affect the Bushehr power plant, scheduled to become operational late next year.
"As far as Bushehr is concerned, Bushehr has no relation to the current resolution," Lavrov said in televised comments. The project, he said, "is in full accordance with norms of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and there can be no talk about any sort of restrictions on it."
France and Britain, both permanent council members, on Friday circulated a revised UN resolution narrowing proposed sanctions on Tehran for refusing to stop its uranium enrichment program.
The new proposal is aimed at winning the support of Russia and China, two other permanent council members, which complained that the originally proposed sanctions were too extensive.
The new draft would ban the supply of materials and technology that could contribute to Iran's nuclear and missile programs. But it spells out in much greater detail exactly what items are prohibited.
The new European draft also drops all mention of Bushehr, which would be Iran's first atomic power plant. But it keeps a range of sanctions and still would limit technical assistance to Iran by the IAEA, and urge countries to prevent Iranian students from studying nuclear-related disciplines.
Iran maintains its nuclear program has only non-military purposes, aimed solely at producing nuclear energy, but the United States and the Europeans believe Tehran's enrichment activities are ultimately aimed at producing nuclear weapons.