Russia considers a US proposal for an extraordinary meeting of the UN Security Council on the turmoil in Iran “harmful and destructive”, RIA news agency cited Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Thursday.
“We see no role for the United Nations Security Council in this issue,” he said, according to the agency.
“Iran’s domestic affairs have nothing to do with the United Nations Security Council’s role.”
On Thursday, the Kazakh delegation to the UN said the Security Council will meet on Friday at 3 p.m. (2000 GMT) to discuss Iran. Kazakhstan is the Security Council president through January.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said this week that Washington was seeking emergency sessions on Iran at the United Nations in New York and at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The US delegation said on Thursday it had requested the Friday meeting.
Iran has witnessed rallies in the past few days over price hikes and economic woes in some cities, but some suspicious rioters, who have been accused of being foreign-backed, have taken the protest so far by damaging public property and attacking police forces.
Commenting on the possibility of new US sanctions on Iran, Ryabkov said such methods were “illegitimate”.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert had suggested the US government could impose sanctions against Iranian officials who repress peaceful protests.
Ryabkov said earlier on Thursday that the United States should not interfere in Iran’s domestic affairs, and that Moscow remained committed to the 2015 international deal to curtail Tehran’s nuclear program, which US President Donald Trump has challenged.
Source: Reuters
