Russia: No talks of punitive measures against Iran

Amid Israel\'s earnest calls for fresh Iran sanctions, Russian foreign ministry said Friday that no talk was right now in progress for more punitive measures against Teheran.



After the UN nuclear watchdog head Yukiya Amano issued a two-sided report about Iran\'s nuclear program, Israel on Friday called for heavy sanctions against Iran \"at the earliest opportunity.\"



The Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement that \"the international community and its institutions must impose effective sanctions on Iran at the earliest opportunity,\" to send a warning signal to Iran over the continuation of its nuclear work.



Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko, however, said on Friday that the six major powers were not discussing any new sanctions against Iran at the moment.



\"No work is in progress at the UN Security Council in New York today to prepare a possible sanctions-based resolution on Iran,\" Nesterenko said but didn\'t \"fully rule out the possibility of starting this work.\"



Amano, in his first report on Iran\'s nuclear activities, once again verified the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran.



\"The information available to the agency is extensive… broadly consistent and credible in terms of the technical detail, the time frame in which the activities were conducted and the people, and organizations involved,\" the Vienna-based IAEA said in the report.



The report, however, called on Tehran to further discuss and cooperate on the issue of the alleged studies.



\"Iran has not provided the necessary cooperation to permit the agency to confirm that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities,\" it added.



\"Altogether this raises concerns about the possible existence in Iran of past or current undisclosed activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile,\" Amano said.



Iran\'s envoy to the UN atomic watchdog said the concern expressed in the Agency\'s latest report is \"groundless,\" as it is not based on any new information.



\"It seems that unsubstantiated allegations that certain countries had previously made about Iran have once again been introduced in this report,\" Tehran\'s Ambassador to the IAEA Ali Asghar Soltanieh told ISNA on Friday.



\"Issues pertaining to the alleged studies, missiles and explosives are worn-out topics, which have already been dismissed in ElBaradei\'s reports. They are not anything new,\" he added.



He then went on to imply that the IAEA\'s decision to reintroduce to past issues and take a different tone was the direct result of a change in its leadership, and not the outcome of not an unbiased evaluation.



\"Considering that there is a new chief in place, it is strange that the IAEA\'s Safeguards Department has once again brought up all past issues regarding Iran\'s nuclear activities. It leaves room for criticism,\" he said.



\"There is no reason why already examined cases relating to Iran\'s nuclear work should be reopened once again… this [repetition] could cause misunderstandings to occur,\" he added.



Iran, a signatory to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), says its nuclear work is totally peaceful and within the framework of the NPT.
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