Russia Warns against Further Iran Sanctions

Russia reinforced its position on Iran's nuclear program Monday, stressing that it did not back increasing “sanction pressure” on Tehran, after weekend talks between Iran and world powers.

The foreign ministry said in a statement that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed Iran with visiting Israeli National Security Council director Yaakov Amidror and warned against further sanctions against Tehran.

Lavrov "confirmed the unacceptability of the prospect of Tehran obtaining nuclear weapon potential", the statement said.

But he slammed as "counterproductive and dangerous any attempts to use reports of Iran's nuclear technology progress to artificially whip up tensions around Iran and create an excuse for further build-up of sanction pressure".

Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States took part in the landmark talks with Iran in Istanbul at the weekend that were praised by both sides as an encouraging revival of a process that had stalled for 15 months.

So far, the U.N. Security Council has imposed four sets of sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear activities, while Europe and the United States have also imposed their own raft of unilateral economic sanctions.

The West and Israel, the sole if undeclared nuclear power in the Middle East, suspect Iran of trying to build atomic weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear program, a charge Tehran denies.