RIA Novosti – February 27, 2010

MOSCOW – There is no hard proof that Iran is working on nuclear weapons, but Tehran has to clarify some issues on its nuclear program to avoid fresh sanctions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday.

“There is no evidence that Iran has made a decision to produce nuclear weapons,” Lavrov said in an interview with RIA Novosti.

He said if the situation persists “I cannot rule out that the UN Security Council will have to consider the situation once again.”

Lavrov also said that sanctions were unlikely to be effective.

“If we go with the sanctions, we’ll not go beyond the goal of our purpose of defending the nonproliferation regime. We don’t want the nonproliferation regime to be used for … strangling Iran, or taking some steps to deteriorate the situation (and) the living standards of people in Iran,” he said.

Lavrov acknowledged Iran’s right to carry out nuclear activities, but urged the country to answer all the questions posed by the International Atomic Energy Agency. He assured reporters that the UN nuclear watchdog continued to monitor Iran’s nuclear activities, including the Islamic country’s recent uranium enrichment program.

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