Clinton, Lavrov agree to defer sanctions against Iran

MOSCOW - Visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said after talks with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Tuesday that neither country is seeking to impose sanctions against Iran under the present circumstances.

Clinton said sanctions over Iran’s controversial uranium enrichment programme would be premature, and that Russia was being extremely cooperative in the work we have done together on the issue.

Lavrov said Russia is in principle very reserved on sanctions, as they rarely produce results.

He said sanctions should only be used when all diplomatic means have been exhausted, and that in the situation with Iran, this is far from the case.

Lavrov also said the US and Russia had identical positions on the issue.

We are not asking anything of each other on Iran, because it would be ridiculous to make requests on an issue where our positions coincide, he said.

However, Clinton said that sanctions over North Korea’s nuclear programme would remain in place.

“We have absolutely no intention of relaxing or offering to relax North Korean sanctions at this point whatsoever,” she said.

Clinton will also meet Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

Before her arrival in Russia as part of a European tour, Clinton had visited Switzerland, Britain and Ireland.

–RIA Novosti