(dpa) - Israel Tuesday welcomed the United Nations Security Council's decision to impose further sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme.
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Arye Mekel said the resolution, passed nearly unanimously by the 15-nation council with the exception of one abstention by Indonesia, was a "good" ruling which "has teeth."
He dismissed as "non-sense" a statement by another foreign ministry official, who had called the resolution soft and said Israel was disappointed with it.
The resolution "keeps up the momentum" and would "encourage" the European Union to impose sanctions of its own, because it provides the bloc with the legitimization it had been waiting for, Mekel told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
The resolution placed a "heavy burden" on anyone who wanted to have financial dealings with it, he said, pointing out it "even mentions a specific name of a specific bank."
An official statement issued by his ministry earlier too welcomed the resolution, saying Iran's policies "undermine global peace and stability."
"The international community has no confidence in Iranian declarations that its nuclear programme is designed for peaceful purposes, and rightly so," the statement said.
Monday's resolution called on member states to inspect cargo entering or leaving Iran, and to step up monitoring of financial institutions in their territories that have dealings with Iranian banks, particularly Bank Melli and Bank Saderat.
It also imposed travel bans on several Iranian officials, threatened to freeze the assets of a dozen companies and banned the trade of "dual-use" goods that can be utilized for civilian, but also military purposes.