India backs UNSC sanctions against Iran

India on Friday called for the full implementations of United Nations Security Council resolutions imposing sanctions against Iran without harming its legitimate economic activities, as New Delhi underlined the need to resolve the row over Tehran's nuclear programme peacefully.

"We call upon all sides to fully implement the resolutions this Council has adopted," Hardeep Singh Puri, the Indian ambassador to the UN, told the powerful Council of which India is a non-permanent member.

"All efforts should be made to ensure that legitimate trade and economic activities of Iran and other countries do not suffer while implementing the measures sanctioned by the relevant resolutions," the permanent envoy underlined.

Puri said Iran's nuclear issue should be resolved peacefully through dialogue and stressed the central role of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in the resolution of technical issues concerning the nuclear row.

"Iran should cooperate fully with the IAEA to restore international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear programme," Puri said.

In June 2010, the UN Security Council passed a fourth round of sanctions against Iran for running its nuclear programme without transparency and violating previous Security Council resolutions along with the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty.

This fourth resolution created new categories of sanctions and includes: banning Iran's investment in nuclear activity abroad, banning all ballistic missiles activities, blocking Iran's use of banks aboard and asset freezes for members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The resolution, however, did not pass unanimously. There were 12 votes in favor but both Turkey and Brazil voted against while Lebanon abstained.