MOSCOW. Feb 25 (Interfax) - Russia has not ruled out that the issue of sanctions against Iran may be raised in the UN Security Council, but opposes any measures "stifling" Iran and its people, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with the Russian media.
Lavrov said that Iran should answer all of the IAEA's questions regarding its nuclear program.
"If no progress is achieved in this area and in a situation when the Iranian leadership is not reacting to a whole number of constructive compromise agreements proposed to it, including the agreement on the supply of fuel for the Tehran research reactor, I do not rule out that the Security Council will be forced to reconsider this situation," Lavrov said.
At the same time, he stressed that sanctions in themselves do not yield "the desired result." "For this reason, we will, if such proposals are made to the Security Council, we will be very attentive to what precisely we are talking about," Lavrov said.
"If the sanctions have other goals, which go beyond the framework of the task of preventing violations of the non-proliferation regime, it will of course cause problems in our work," he said.
"We don't want any other goals, including the goal of 'stifling' Iran and taking measures that will worsen the humanitarian situation and the situation of the population to be pursued under the pretext of observing the non-proliferation regime. It contradicts the approaches existing in the Security Council," Lavrov said.
Lavrov recalled that Russia does not doubt Iran's right to carry out peaceful nuclear programs, like any other non-nuclear members of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.