2010-06-11 10:26

Also, Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said the United States is playing a "naive game" over the country's controversial nuclear program, local English language satellite Press TV reported on Thursday.

Larijani made the remarks on Wednesday after the UN Security Council voted in favor of imposing fresh sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program, the report said.

By pushing towards sanctions, "the U.S. game against Iran was being spearheaded by the Zionist (Israel) lobby," he said according to Press TV.

On Thursday, Chinese Special Envoy to the Middle East Wu Sike said that China is keen to find a peaceful solution to the Iranian nuclear issue through diplomatic ways.

"China objects to Iran developing nuclear weapons, but it supports, however, its right in the peaceful use of nuclear energy," he said at a press conference held in the Chinese embassy in Damascus.

"UN resolution does not close the door to diplomatic solution," he added.

Meanwhile, Russia said Thursday it would freeze the sale of S-300 air defense systems to Iran in line with new UN sanctions against Iran adopted a day earlier.

"The UN Security Council's resolutions are mandatory to all countries. Russia is no exception here. Naturally, the (previously signed) contract for the delivery of S-300 missile systems to Tehran will be frozen," the Interfax news agency quoted a source as saying.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday lashed out at the UN Security Council over imposing new sanctions on Iran in connection with its nuclear program.

Erdogan said that Turkey voted "no" to UN Security Council's sanctions against Iran, because Turkey, Iran and Brazil signed a nuclear swap deal.

"If we had not said 'no' to sanctions, we would have denied ourselves. It would be a dishonor. We would not want to participate in such a dishonor because history will not forgive us," he said.

On Wednesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the resolution against Iran "worth nothing," the semi-official ISNA news agency reported.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told the semi-official Fars news agency on Wednesday that the decision by the UN Security Council is "a move backward."