Russia: Nuclear sanctions won't affect Iran economy

Haaretz -- Economic sanctions against Iran's nuclear program won't affect the country's economy, a Russian official said on Thursday, reiterating Moscow's objection of any diplomatic actions against the Islamic Republic.

Speaking to Iran's official news agency IRNA, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said that Russia had "declared time and again that Russia is opposed to any anti-Iran action by the international community and believes that they will be useless."

"We are now witnessing that the previous sanctions against Iran were all futile," Lukashevich said.

Also referring to Russia's stance on sanctions against Iran, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted by IRNA as saying that he was "quite confident that anti-Iran sanctions are doomed to failure."

Last month, Russia dismissed a new batch of Western sanctions targeting Iran's financial and energy sectors as "unacceptable," warning that such measures would hurt the chances of renewing talks with Tehran over its nuclear program.

"We again underline that the Russian Federation considers such extraterritorial measures unacceptable and contradictory to international law," Lukashevich said in a statement at the time.

Iran's foreign ministry also condemned the new measures as a "show [of] the hostility of these countries toward Iran."

"These sanctions are futile repetitious efforts which will not affect Iran's economy," Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said in Tehran. "Such illogical, intimidating moves are propaganda and psychological war which however will not change our nation's will but just make us more united."