Iran’s top nuclear negotiator denied the country’s Revolutionary Guards have any connection to Iran’s nuclear program and said UN sanctions on commanders of the elite force will only increase their status, a state newspaper reported Wednesday. The UN Security Council froze the assets on 15 Iranian officials, including members of the Revolutionary Guards, part of limited sanctions imposed on the country in March for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment. The Security Council froze assets of companies and organizations it said were involved in Iran’s nuclear program, including ones linked to the Guards. Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, said the “Guards’ connection to Iran’s nuclear and atomic issue is nil,” the state-owned Iran daily newspaper reported. “They (the UN) think that by this (sanctions), they have hit the Guards. But the Guards will become more popular. Their anger has let to more influence for us,” Larijani, a former member of the Guards, told a gathering of officials from the force, the paper reported. The UN sanctions resolution also urges nations not to allow travel by the officials listed for the asset freeze. In April Gen Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general on the travel-ban list of the UN Security Council, completed a six-day trip to Russia on without any difficulty. Moscow defended the visit and denied it was a violation of UN sanctions on Iran.