In an interview with the ITAR-TASS on Tuesday, Russia’s permanent envoy to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, warned against slapping additional punitive measures on Iran, which go beyond UN sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
Echoing Russia’s UN envoy are President Dmitry Medvedev and Foreign Ministry Sergei Lavrov, who have repeatedly urged their foreign counterparts to stick to an array of UN Security Council (UNSC) resolutions on Iran. The documents stipulate UNSC members refraining from imposing additional and especially extra-territorial sanctions against Tehran.On June 9, 2010, the Security Council clinched a new resolution, which tightened screws on Iran in what was preceded by protracted talks between five permanent UNSC members plus Germany.
With Washington then praising Moscow’s and Beijing’s drive to support the resolution, many eyebrows were raised on June 17, when the US Congress nodded a slew of unilateral extra-territorial sanctions against Iran, which were followed by those of the EU. As to the US sanctions, they include penalties for those international organizations and banks, which are doing business with their Iranian counterparts, experts explain.
With the US sanctions riding roughshod over international norms, many point to Washington’s double-standards when it comes to its grappling with the Iranian nuclear program. Paying lip service to the necessity of returning Tehran to the negotiating table, Washington did not think twice before slapping unilateral sanctions on Iran in a move that is almost certain to contribute to Tehran’ nuclear-enrichment drive, pundits point out. They are echoed by CIA director Leon Panetta, who said he is doubtful that recent US-EU penalties will put an end to Tehran’s perennial push for obtaining a nuclear weapon.
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