Lavrov emphasised Russia’s opposition to further UN Security Council or Western sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme, which the United States and its European allies fear is aimed at producing weapons.
“All imaginable sanctions that could influence Iran’s conduct in the nuclear sphere … have been exhausted,” Lavrov said.
Additional sanctions “are aimed at causing a strangling effect on the Iranian economy and the situation of the Iranian people, probably in the hope of provoking discontent,” he said.