MOSCOW, August 29 (RIA Novosti) - Sanctions are an illegal pressure tactic to attempt to influence policy, but they will not affect the people of Iran and Russia, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif told the press after a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Friday.
“Sanctions are an illegal means of applying pressure and an intrusion on policy from the outside … [they] contradict international regulations and will not bring about any result. In order to get rid of any lack of clarity concerning the [Iranian] peaceful nuclear program – its activity has not decreased and will not decrease because of sanctions,” Zarif said.
“If at the beginning of the sanctions Iran had 200 centrifuges [used in uranium enrichment], now we have 20,000,” the Iranian foreign minister added.
“They can exert pressure on a country’s people, but nothing more than that. I think, that the people of Russia are ready to take this pressure to protect their lawful rights, as well,” Zarif claimed.
“This does not mean we want to fight against the world; we are now making all efforts to solve Iran’s problems at the highest level of politics. But it does not mean that sanctions could influence our countries’ people,” Zarif stressed.
Western powers have introduced several rounds of sanctions against Iran, claiming that the country’s nuclear program had the hidden goal of creating a nuclear weapon. Tehran has denied the allegations, insisting that its nuclear activities are peaceful in nature. The talks between Iran and the P5+1 international group of negotiators in November 2013 led to a partial lifting of economic restrictions.
