Russia has told its UN Security Council colleagues it will vote yes on a resolution imposing sanctions on Iran's nuclear work, diplomats have said.
The UN Security Council plans to vote later today on a resolution imposing sanctions on Tehran for its nuclear work, which the West suspects is aimed at making nuclear weapons
Iran's parliamentary speaker has warned that its parliament would alter Iran's relationship with the United Nations' IAEA nuclear watchdog if the UN Security Council issued a sanctions resolution against Iran.
.Iran says its programme is peaceful and aims to generate energy. Russian leader Vladimir Putin and US President George W Bush discussed the Security Council debate this morning, the Kremlin said.
"If they intend to deprive the Iranian nation of its certain right to nuclear technology by a resolution ... parliament will reconsider the nature of its relationship with the IAEA," Parliament Speaker Gholamali Haddadadel told state television.
Haddadadel said if the pressure mounts on Iran, parliament will have to discuss a plan, approved by the parliament's national security committee, that wants a serious reconsideration in Iran's relation with the IAEA.
He did not elaborate on the contents of the bill and how it was meant to alter Iran's relationship with the IAEA. Parliament has already banned IAEA snap inspections in February in response to its nuclear case referral to the UN Security Council.
However, the head of parliament's national security committee Alaeddin Boroujerdi said that Iran was not interested in quitting the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) despite possible sanctions.
"Since Iran seriously opposes building nuclear weapons it is not interested in signing out from such an important matter in international aspect," Boroujerdi was quoted by Iran's student news agency ISNA as saying.
A Kremlin spokesman gave no further details on the telephone conversation between the Russian and US leaders.
Interfax news agency, quoting Kremlin press secretary Alexei Gromov, said the two leaders "discussed various issues of Russian-American interaction in international affairs, including the final stage of work in the UN Security Council on Iran's nuclear programme".