MOSCOW, August 14. /TASS/. The Russian Federation has made it clear it would not pass any more any sanctions resolution on Iran, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Friday.
"We have made it clear in the closed regime with counterparts from the US and the EU that Russia would not pass any more any sanctions resolution on Iran," the high-ranking official said.
The deputy foreign minister said Moscow expects that the sanctions against Iran will be lifted as quickly as possible.
"Iran’s production and its export potential may not be restored within several months," Ryabkov said. "Bear in mind that the sanctions against Iran have not been lifted. We expect that the sanctions will be lifted as soon as possible," he added.
The diplomat said the US Congress cannot gain support necessary to hinder implementation of the agreement between Sextet and Iran.
"I believe the voting contra at the Congress would not be that massive to have a possible majority overcome a possible veto from the president," he said.
Russia plans no leading role in modifying Arak reactor
Moscow won’t have a key role in modifying the Arak heavy water reactor in Iran.
"We are ready to further participate in this process, but originally this project was not of the Russian construction and we did not deal with them. Other countries of six powers rather than Russia should have a leading role in modifying the Arak reactor," Ryabkov told the experts of the Center for Energy and Security Studies.
The diplomat said the process to modify the reactor in Arak is difficult and it is up to an international consortium, which is yet to be determined, to deal with the actual issues.
Under the Lausanne accords, the reactor’s existing core must be destroyed or withdrawn from the country together with spent fuel from it. At the same time, Iran will accumulate heavy water only in amounts required for the operation of a rebuilt reactor, selling surplus volumes abroad in the next 15 years.
Production of isotopes at Iran’s Fordow facility may start in several years
The Russian diplomat said Russia and Iran will continue consultations soon on modernizing the Fordow facility and producing isotopes.
"Modernizing the Fordow facility is an indivisible part of the agreement [on Iran’s nuclear program]. Several cascades will be modernized for isotope production, while several others will be frozen," he said. "We will deal with organizing production of isotopes at Fordow, the issue is being discussed in the bilateral format. We held several rounds of talks on this matter. The timeframe until production is launched will take several years," Ryabkov noted.
Bilateral consultations will resume soon, the diplomat said.
Russia and Iran discuss implementation of accords on uranium exports
The diplomat noted Russia and Iran are discussing the details of the implementation of the agreement on the export of uranium to Russia.
"There is a decision that the excess material accumulated in Iran - that’s about 8 metric tons - will be will be exported to Russia in exchange for supplies of natural uranium," he said.
"We are at the stage of the bilateral discussions of this issue with Iran, I do not want to go into detail of the ongoing work," he added.
Iran and IAEA plan to agree on access to nuclear facility in Parchin this year
Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will be able to close the issue of providing access of organization’s inspectors to the nuclear facility in Parchin.
"Talking about Parchin, the issue was raised [at negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program]," Ryabkov said. "As far as I understand, we will close this issue in the framework of fulfilling transparency measures and decisions reached on IAEA inspectors’ access to facilities in Iran, as well as during sessions of the joint commission," he noted.
IAEA and Iran plan to solve all issues connected with future research "until the end of 2015," the diplomat added.
Russia’s refusal to work on deal with Iran would not have prevented drop in oil prices
According to the deputy foreign minister, Russia’s refusal to work on the Iranian nuclear deal could lead to even worse dynamics of oil prices that the one that has developed today.
"What would have happened to oil prices if Russia had not taken part in these negotiations?", he asked. "Would the deal with Iran have been reached if Russia had not taken part? I think the deal would have been reached, but on much worse terms for Russia. Boycott of the Iranian deal by Russia may have led to even worse dynamics of oil prices compared to today."
"The effects of this deal would have been felt both in the United Nations Security Council and in the International Atomic Energy Agency, and also in the context of nuclear non-proliferation to the extent in which we were able to avoid this now," he added.
Ryabkov noted that the oil market depended on psychology and on the brokers’ mood.
"I don’t know how this correlates with the need to install state-of-the-art equipment at the Iranian oil fields and modernise the Iranian oil refineries. But I do know that in the event of Russia’s boycott of these negotiations, we would have had now the same situation, if not worse, in terms of the dynamics of world oil prices," he said.
Moscow interested in Oil-for-Goods deal with Iran
Russia continues to be interested in the Oil-for-Goods deal with Iran.
"As for the Oil-for-Goods scheme, the anti-Iranian sanctions have not been lifted yet, these are not only unilateral U.S. and EU sanctions," he said.
Ryabkov noted that sanctions should not and cannot bear a relation to the lawful economic cooperation with Iran, "including in the form of such pseudo-barter or not fully barter deals."
"Therefore, we are interested in continuing this work, and we are determined to continue it," the diplomat said.
Moscow satisfied with Iran nuclear deal
Ryabkov stressed that Russia is satisfied with the agreement on the Iranian nuclear program
"I am prepared to explain and give reasons in favour of why we are so confident about it," he said.
Moscow has been watching inner domestic processes in various countries, which emerge following the agreement.
"We can see regional forces want to influence preparations for implementation of the mutual action plan," he said.
At the negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program, Russia worked for search of a balance of interests, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told a news conference on Friday.
"There were many ideas, they were multifaceted - beginning from the basic statements and to detailed technical solutions," he said. "Many our suggestions have been included in the final agreement."
"Here a question of the initiator is not an issue, we have not applied for patents, we were working jointly and tried at all the stages to have solutions reflect a balance of interests and not to affect anybody, not allowing a military solution," the deputy foreign minister said.