By Matt Sugrue
Xinhua reports that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev issued a decree banning Iranian investments in any "commercial activities involving uranium production or use of nuclear material and technology.
The presidential decree states,
Any investment by Iran, its citizens and legal entities registered in Iran or located in its jurisdiction, or individuals or legal entities acting on their behalf or on their orders, or organizations owned or controlled by them, in any commercial activity related to uranium production, or production or use of nuclear material, equipment, special non-nuclear materials and relevant technologies subject to export control, will be prohibited in Russia.
President Medvedev issued the decree to bring Russian policy into line with UNSC Resolution 1929, which instituted additional sanctions against Iran.
The decree follows a recent Russian announcement that, after months of hedging, the sale of the S-300 anti-aircraft system to Iran would not go forward. The Kremlin made the decision to cancel the sale as a result of its reading of UNSC Resolution 1929, which among other things bans the supply of "missiles or missile systems" to Iran.
Russia's two recent announcements indicate that the UN sanctions passed over the summer may have more bite than critics originally contended.
The Iranian Student News Agency reported earlier in the week Iranian MP Alaeddin Boroujerdi's statement that Tehran should sue Moscow over the failed sale. Boroujerdi stated that "the issue [of the S-300] can be pursued legally if Russia does not provide Iran with [the] missile system and in such a case compensation should be paid to Iran."