Tehran, September 28: Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast warns Russia that siding with the US against Iran will harm Moscow’s long-term interests.
“Russia’s long-term interests will not be realized by getting engaged in US-sponsored games [against Iran],” Mehmanparast said at his weekly press conference on Tuesday, reacting to Russia’s unilateral termination of an arms deal with the Islamic Republic.
After continuous delays and mixed signals regarding the delivery of the sophisticated S-300 missile system to Iran, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev issued a decree on Wednesday prohibiting the delivery of the missile system to Tehran.
Russia was required to provide Iran with at least five S-300 air-defense systems under a contract signed between the two countries in 2005.
Russia argued that the ban was justified under the UN Resolution 1929 against the Islamic Republic.
Mehmanparast further pointed out that the UN Resolution 1929 was itself “illicit and unjust,” adding that such defensive weapons did not indeed fall under the resolution.
The Iranian spokesperson insisted that the political pressure on Iran to retreat from its peaceful nuclear program will fail.
On June 9, the UN Security Council (UNSC) imposed fresh US-engineered sanctions against Iran over allegations that Tehran’s nuclear program may include a hidden military application. No evidence has ever been produced by the IAEA and Western countries showing Iran’s diversion from a civilian program.
After the resolution was passed, Moscow said that it was not obliged to drop the S-300 deal with the Islamic Republic, since it was not referenced in the UNSC resolution.
Moscow later claimed that upon further study of the sanctions resolution, it was halting the delivery, which has been already delayed numerous times by Western and Israeli pressures.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s 9/11 remarks
Mehmanparast said certain issues must be taken into consideration regarding President Ahmadinejad’s remarks about the September 11 attacks.
He said that Iran was among the first countries to condemn the attacks, adding that Iran is a vocal critic and the biggest victim of terrorism.
Mehmanparast also criticized what he called “hasty, imprudent” reactions to Iran’s calls for a probe into the incident.
He said while Iran condemns the deaths of the victims of the attack, a careful research is required to provide answers to many questions that have remained unanswered regarding the incident.
In his UN address speech last Friday, President Ahmadinejad called for the establishment of an independent truth-finding committee to investigate the 9/11 attacks. He also said a special tribunal should be set up to prosecute the perpetuators of the attacks.
—Agencies