Russian FM: UN Securitry Council not to support new sanctions against Iran

Lavrov also believes there is "something to use" in a package of proposals Tehran has sent to world powers.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday that Iran's new proposals on its disputed nuclear programme offered material to work with and called on world powers to issue a unified response.

"There is something to dig into," Lavrov said of the package of proposals that Iran delivered Wednesday to the six powers seeking to curb its nuclear programme, Russia, the United States, Britain, China, France and Germany.
 
"When the other countries have studied the Iranian document, we will have to reach a common position," he said during a meeting with the Valdai group, a club of foreign experts on Russia.
 
Lavrov criticised sanctions planned by some countries against Iran as a "blockade" and said the Islamic republic would not be able to obtain a nuclear weapon.
 
"Iran cannot produce uranium for military purposes, even if it wanted to," due to surveillance from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), he said.
 
The international community suspects that Iran's nuclear programme is aimed at producing weapons. Tehran denies those charges.