Russia warned Western nations against imposing separate sanctions on Iran and threatened to strike back if such restrictions affect Russian companies. Moscow also said the new sanctions would not stop it from fulfilling its contract with Iran for the supply of S-300 surface-to-air missile systems.
The Foreign Ministry said the U.N. document did not contain any crippling sanctions against Iran and was aimed at giving “impetus to a politico-diplomatic solution” to Iran's nuclear programme. “However, we cannot ignore signals indicating that some of our partners intend… to consider additional, tougher sanctions against Iran than those provided by the UNSC resolution,” it said the statement.
Moscow said it would not tolerate any restrictions beyond the U.N. sanctions and would “retaliate” if Russian companies or individuals were affected.
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The Ministry also called for an early meeting of envoys from Russia, the U.S., France and Iran to discuss ways of implementing the Iranian uranium swap agreement negotiated by Brazil and Turkey.
Meanwhile, Russia's top arms export official said the new U.N. sanctions would not affect Russian plans to sell S-300 air-defence missiles to Iran.
“The S-300 systems are not covered by the sanctions and work on the contract is going forward,” said Mikhail Dmitriyev, Director, Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation.
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“We are not folding up our defence cooperation with Iran. The Security Council resolution leaves much room for such cooperation,” said the official.