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Political solution of Iran’s nuclear problem has no alternative – Russia’s UN envoy

“Russia consistently presses for a political and diplomatic settlement of tensions over the Iranian nuclear program,” Churkin said
Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS
Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

UNITED NATIONS, December 14 (Itar-Tass) —— Russia keeps pressing for a settlement of the Iranian nuclear problem. It believes that a political solution has no alternative, Russia’s UN envoy, Vitaly Churkin, said at the open meeting of the UN Security Council devoted to the implementation of sanctions against Iran.

“Russia consistently presses for a political and diplomatic settlement of tensions over the Iranian nuclear program. It proceeds from the awareness that a negotiated settlement can have no alternative,” Churkin said. He stressed the idea the efforts along these lines “must be carried out on the basis of a multi-phased approach and in compliance with the nuclear arms non-proliferation treaty.

The Security Council heard a statement by Colombia’s permanent representative Nestor Osorio, who leads the Security Council’s committee for monitoring compliance with sanctions against Iran. He also voiced the certainty the settlement of Iran’s nuclear problem should be pressed for exclusively by diplomatic means.

At the same time Osorio voiced concern over the fact Teheran in the course of a series of meetings with the sextet of international mediators (Russia, Britain, Germany, China, the United States and France) and also in contacts with the International Atomic Energy Agency failed to persuade the international community its nuclear research was exclusively peaceful.

Teheran, a signatory to the Nuclear Arms Non-Proliferation Treaty, has for several years actively worked on nuclear technologies, saying that all research was exclusively peaceful. The international community has certain doubts on that score. Israel openly accuses Iran of developing nuclear arms and warns that it may attack Iranian nuclear facilities.

In a bid to make Iran cooperate with the international community, including the IAEA, the UN Security Council imposed sanctions on Teheran. Besides, it is subject to unilateral sanctions by the United States and the European Union.