Moscow doesn`t accept new US sanctions on Iran.

"BBC Rusia" reports: "Russia on Tuesday dismissed new US sanctions targeting Iran's financial and energy sectors as "unacceptable" and said these would damage any chances of renewing negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear program.

A sharply worded Russian statement underscored Moscow's longstanding opposition to sanctions beyond those endorsed by the United Nations Security Council, where Russia holds veto power as a permanent member. The Council has passed four packages of limited sanctions against Iran since 2006.

"We again underline that the Russian Federation considers such extraterritorial measures unacceptable and contradictory to international law," Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in the statement.

It indicated that despite big powers having united to push through a UN nuclear agency board resolution last week that expressed increasing concern about Iran's nuclear program, Russia continues to differ sharply with the West on how to win Tehran's cooperation.

"Such practices ... seriously complicate efforts for constructive dialogue with Tehran," Lukashevich said.

The United States, which fears Tehran's nuclear program is secretly geared to developing atomic weapons, named Iran on Monday as an area of "primary money laundering concern" in a step designed to dissuade non-US banks from dealing with it.

It also blacklisted 11 entities suspected of assisting Iran's nuclear activity, which Tehran says is meant for peaceful purposes including power generation, and expanded sanctions to target companies that aid its oil and petrochemical industries.

Britain and Canada also announced new sanctions against Iran's energy and financial sectors while France proposed measures including freezing the assets of Iran's central bank and suspending purchases of oil".