Russia toughens opposition to UN sanctions on Iran

Hardening its opposition to sanctions against Iran, Russia yesterday said the UN Security Council should only consider such measures if it had proof the Islamic Republic was trying to build nuclear weapons.

The council is awaiting a report on April 28 from the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on whether Tehran is meeting its demands for a halt to uranium enrichment and answers to queries about its nuclear programme.

The US, Britain and France want the Security Council to weigh sanctions if, as widely expected, IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei concludes Iran has not met UN demands.

But Russia made clear it would not view such non-compliance on its own as warranting punitive steps against Tehran. It had previously said only that it doubted sanctions would work.

"We will only be able to talk about sanctions after we have concrete facts confirming that Iran is not exclusively involved in peaceful nuclear activities," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said, Itar-Tass news agency reported.

Seeking to put further pressure on Iran, a senior US official yesterday said Russia must stop any arms deals with Tehran and other nations must stop the sale of dual-use technology to Iran. "It's time for countries to use their leverage against Iran," said senior State Department official Nicholas Burns.

Russia said yesterday it intends to go ahead with a planned sale of missiles which Moscow and Tehran say are for defensive purposes. A day earlier it rebuffed Washington's suggestion that it halt work on Iran's first atomic power plant.

Iran insists on a legal right to enrich uranium for civilian nuclear energy and denies any secret bomb-building agenda. The IAEA has found no hard evidence Iran is after atomic weaponry.

But Iran has covered up parts of its nuclear programme in the past, and its President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has heightened world concern by saying Israel should be "wiped off the map".

Senior cleric Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani told Friday prayer worshippers Mr ElBaradei and the IAEA had singled out Iran's quest for technology, while ignoring a nuclear-armed Israel.

He also accused the Security Council of failing to live up to its name. "You are establishing security for the wolves and predators rather than for the sheep," the cleric declared.