In an escalating war of words with the United States Russia has accused Washington of working to change the regimes in Iran and Syria. Additional sanctions against Iran, as well as potentially any military strikes against it, will unquestionably be perceived by the international community as an attempt at changing the regime in Iran, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Gannady Gatilov said on Friday.
Mr. Gatilov also said the West's goal in Syria was to remove President Bashar al-Assad.
Russian comments came as Washington penalised companies from China, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates for their failure to comply with U.S. unilateral sanctions against Iran. The European governments last week agreed on an oil embargo against the Islamic republic.
Mr. Gatilov deplored the opening of a new enrichment facility near Qum in Iran but stressed that U.N. Security Council sanctions against Iran have completely exhausted themselves, while Western unilateral sanctions undermine the efforts of the international community to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem and have a negative effect on the Iranian people and its economy.
It is for the third time this week that senior Russian diplomats criticised the Western policy of stepping up pressure on Iran.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov on Wednesday warned that a military operation against Iran would be a grave mistake, a severe miscalculation.
Moscow has also rejected the Western line on Syria in the U.N. Security Council. Deputy Foreign Minister Gatilov said the Western powers were trying to amend a Russia-moved draft resolution so as to blame Syrian violence only on the government while hushing up the actions of the armed opposition.
Unfortunately, the West's approach radically differs from ours, said Mr. Gatilov. Judging by the contents of their proposed amendments, their goal is clearly aimed at removing al-Assad's regime in Damascus," he said.
After vetoing together with China a European resolution on Syria two months ago Moscow last month proposed its own resolution condemning violence by both the government and opposition.