US Call for UN Emergency Session on Iran Is 'Destructive,' Says Russia

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto (not in picture) meets Deputy foreign minister of the Russian Federation Sergei Ryabkov at the President's Official Residence Mantyniemi, Helsinki, Finland September 12, 2017. Credit: Reuters/Lehtikuva/Martti Kainulainen

Moscow: 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 UN Security Council in this issue," he said, according to the agency. "Iran's domestic affairs have nothing to do with the UN Security Council's role."

On Thursday, the Kazakh delegation to the UN said the Security Council will meet on Friday at 3 pm (2000 GMT) to discuss Iran. Kazakhstan is the Security Council president through January.

US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, said this week that Washington was seeking emergency sessions on Iran at the UN in New York and at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The US delegation said on Thursday it had requested the Friday meeting.

Anti-government protests have swept Iranian cities and towns over the past week and 21 people have been killed in the unrest.

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 US should not interfere in Iran's domestic affairs, and that Moscow remained committed to the 2015 international deal to curtail Tehran's nuclear programme, which US President Donald Trump has challenged.

(Reuters)

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