U.S. Stance Against Iran Arms Allies Brings Russian Rebuke

Russia rebuked the United States on Friday for legislation that could bring economic sanctions against Moscow for allegedly supplying Iran with weapons technology.

“We must state with sorrow that American lawmakers are again artificially aggravating the situation, trying to make internal legislation extraterritorial and putting pressure on other nations under clearly forced pretexts,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“Such a pseudo-imperial approach is unacceptable and shall not be agreed with by our country and the whole of civilized society.”

The bill passed Thursday by the U.S. Senate directs the president to report every six months to Congress on foreign persons or countries that transfer weapons of mass destruction or technology to Iran, and authorizes him to impose sanctions.

The Foreign Ministry said the legislation would undermine international efforts aimed at export control and the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons.

It also said that “any steps to implement it would . . . complicate Russian-American ties and international relations as a whole.”

The bill makes payments to Russia’s space agency for the International Space Station project contingent on Russian compliance with nonproliferation policies.

Russia has actively assisted Iran in its nuclear power program, which the United States fears is being used to cover up secret efforts to build nuclear weapons.

In 1998, the U.S. administration announced sanctions against seven Russian entities suspected of transferring weapons technology to Iran. Three more Russian groups were added to the list last year.