Russia Says Unilateral Sanctions Harm Nuclear Talks
Russia has stressed once again that unilateral sanctions on Iran are a blow to the peaceful resolution of the nuclear disputes with Iran.
Ria Novosti reports that Vitaly Churkin, the Russian envoy to the United Nations, said at the meeting of the UN Security Council on Thursday, September 20: “We are convinced that the effectiveness of the sanctions regime and the whole collectivity and unity of the international community to resolve the situation around the Iranian nuclear program is undermined by additional unilateral restrictions.”
The Russian ambassador stressed that in some cases, the unilateral sanctions against Iran have an “extra-territorial nature which is categorically unacceptable from an international legal point of view.”
The U.S. and the European Union have imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran’s financial and oil sector in the past year to convince it to comply with their demands regarding its nuclear activities.
It is not only wrong to apply sanctions which violate Iran’s right to develop nuclear power for commercial purposes, it is wrong to fail to apply a consistent standard to all countries that have nuclear weapons, including Israel who has to date refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. With Netanyahu such a loose cannon, it would appear that forcing Israeli accountability should be at the top of the agenda.
What makes it perverse, indeed, is the recent U.S. decision to deny visas to 20 Iranians who were scheduled to come to the United States for the next General Assembly session to help their government plead its case.
The Obama Administration and its State Department are making mistake after mistake while the Congress is in thrall to AIPAC and the Likud. Hopefully, it will come to its senses if it remains in power, though God forbid if Hillary Clinton is elected in 2016.