Moscow, July 05: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says imposing additional sanctions on Iran would only increase tensions between Tehran and the West.
In an interview with Italy’s Rai television, Medvedev explained that Moscow supports what he called the new US administration’s policy to pursue reconciliation with Tehran.
“If I understand correctly, the United States would like to establish more open and more direct relations with Iran,” Medvedev said during the interview, which was aired on Saturday.
“We support this choice. It would be counter-productive to resort to other sanctions,” he added.
The Russian president’s comments came as leaders of the Group of Eight industrialized powers prepare to meet in Italy for their upcoming summit.
Contrary to continuing threats of sanctions from Washington and its European allies based on allegation of Iran intending to build an atomic bomb, Russia has always backed Tehran’s assertions that its nuclear program is aimed at peaceful purposes.
In June, Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said that Barack Obama’s rise to the White House raised the odds of reaching agreement on Iran’s nuclear work through diplomacy.
That was while US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had threatened months earlier that Iran would face severe embargoes if the proposed nuclear talks failed to achieve its goals.
—–Agencies