MOSCOW, February 1 (RIA Novosti) - Economic sanctions against Iran would not force the country to abandon its nuclear research programs and could even prove counterproductive, a senior member of Russia's lower house of parliament said Wednesday.
"In my opinion, sanctions would have no influence on Iran," Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the State Duma's international affairs committee, said. "Iran is a strong country. It would be able to get round the sanctions."
Envoys from five permanent UN Security Council members (the United Kingdom, China, France, Russia, and the United States) and Germany held a meeting in London Monday and agreed to refer Iran's "nuclear file" to the Security Council, which has the power to impose economic sanctions.
The U.S. and some European countries have accused Iran of pursuing a secret nuclear weapons program, although the Islamic Republic insists it wants nuclear energy only for peaceful purposes.
Kosachev said the sanctions would not help the global community achieve its main objective, and suggested they could prompt Iran to step up its research and even build a nuclear bomb.
Imposing sanctions on Iran was also not in the economic interests of Russia, which is helping the country build a nuclear reactor in Bushehr, Kosachev said.
The sanctions could only be imposed with the consent of Russia, a permanent UN Security Council member, he noted.
Kosachev said Russia would not be the only country to suffer if sanctions were imposed. Germany's trade with Iran amounts to 6 billion euros, compared with the 2 billion-euro relationship between Russia and Iran, according to the Duma member.
The United States was the only country that would not be affected by the sanctions, he said. That was the reason why the U.S. was taking a harder line on Iran than were European governments, he said.
