Russia rejects the new UN sanctions against Iran; Ahmadinejad supports dialogue process but not to not accept “illegal demands.” Tehran expresses concerns over IPI gas pipeline security
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    • Russia opposed the imposition of new UN Security Council measures targeting Iran after the White House warned of a new round of sanctions. It also emphasised the need for constructive dialogue with Tehran with the aim of moving forward in the negotiation process. While Germany was reticent on US and French calls for new UN sanctions, China also argued that such a move would not resolve the stalemate. Three sets of UN sanctions have already been slapped on Iran so far1.

    The foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, along with Germany unanimously passed a new resolution on Iran, reaffirming demands it stop enriching uranium, but imposed no new sanctions. The IAEA in a report in the previous week stated that without further information, it would not be able to provide assurances about Iran's nuclear programme2.

    Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad meanwhile addressing the UNGA in New York stated that Iran supported the process of dialogue but would not accept “illegal demands.” He also lashed out at Israel, asserting that the ‘Zionist regime’ was headed for collapse and that that Europe and the US were being manipulated by “murderous Zionists.”
    Ahmadinejad also accused the US and NATO of being “aggressors” in Iraq and Afghanistan, and of starting wars “in order to win votes in elections.” He further charged that the US Empire was reaching the end of its road. He pointed out that six years after Saddam Hussein's regime was ousted in Iraq, “the occupiers are still there3.”

    Tehran has also expressed serious concerns over the security situation in Pakistan, and has asked Islamabad to make security an important part of the proposed multibillion-dollar pipeline deal which would take Iranian gas to Pakistan and India. Sources in Pakistan’s Petroleum Ministry told Daily Times that along with other demands regarding the IPI project, Iran had called for including a provision on security in the Gas Sales Purchase Agreement (GSPA). With such a provision, Tehran would be able to suspend gas supply to Pakistan in case of “a security incident” in the country. Out of the 900 kms of the pipeline to be laid in Pakistan, a 787 km stretch would be in the province of Balochistan, while a 113 km section would pass through Nawabshah district in Sindh4.

    In other developments, former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani stated that the current financial crisis in the US was the price Washington was paying for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan5.

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