Russia urges Iran to obey U.N. resolution

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MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia urged Iran on Tuesday to abide by the latest U.N. Security Council resolution which imposed a third round of sanctions on the Islamic Republic for its refusal to suspend sensitive nuclear activities.

"We expect Iran’s leadership to analyse thoroughly the declaration by the six foreign ministers as well as the contents of the adopted resolution, and opt in favour of meeting demands by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Security Council," Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The resolution adopted on Monday calls for more travel and financial restrictions on named Iranian individuals and companies and makes some restrictions mandatory.

The five permanent Security Council members -- the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia -- and Germany, which is not on the council, agreed in Berlin on January 22 on a draft text outlining a third round of sanctions against Tehran.

The U.N. resolution is "an uneasy compromise", and all the "excessive political and economic demands by hardliners on Iran’s nuclear programme" were dropped from it, Russia said.

Washington had been pushing for tougher sanctions but Russia and China, both commercial partners of Iran, hardened their opposition to such measures after a U.S. intelligence report released in December .....continued below

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"This resolution is a serious political signal to Tehran about the need to cooperate with the U.N. Security Council and fulfil the demands of the IAEA’s management," it added.

"It is also important that the six countries should indeed demonstrate their readiness to serious cooperation with Iran."

Iran however had dismissed the council’s decision as illegal and illegitimate.

Tehran denies Western charges it seeks nuclear weapons and has ignored three previous Security Council resolutions demanding it freeze its uranium enrichment programme, which can produce fuel for nuclear power plants or atomic weapons.

"We hope that Iran’s government will continue active cooperation with the IAEA and take all necessary steps to resolve the situation around Iran’s nuclear programme," Russia’s Foreign Ministry said.

(Reporting by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Keith Weir)