NEW YORK, September 27 (RIA Novosti) - New sanctions against Iran could undermine the UN nuclear watchdog's efforts to resolve the country's nuclear problem, the Russian foreign minister said Thursday.
The U.S. House of Representatives approved on Tuesday a bill toughening sanctions against Iran, and banning the White House from any new nuclear deals with Russia and other countries that engage in nuclear cooperation with Iran.
"Interference by means of any sanctions would undermine the International Atomic Energy Agency's efforts," Sergei Lavrov told journalists, one day before a meeting of the Iran Six, at which Washington is expected to press for new sanctions.
Western countries suspect Iran of pursuing a secret nuclear weapons program, but the Islamic Republic insists that its nuclear program has purely civilian goals. Tehran recently intensified cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Under the House of Representatives draft law, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps could be listed as a terrorist organization.
The 125,000-strong Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is the largest branch of Iran's military, separate from the rest of the army. It is equipped with modern weaponry and controls militia units numbering up to 12 million soldiers.
