MINSK -- The Foreign Ministry welcomed on Thursday the lift of the sanctions on the Belarusian Optical Mechanical Association (BelOMO) by the United States.

"We have always believed that unilateral sanctions are unacceptable," Maria Vanshina, deputy head of the Information Office of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, told local media.

The sanctions were imposed by the U.S. Department of State on May 24, 2011 as BelOMO was accused of selling technologies related to the production of nuclear, chemical and biological weapon and ballistic missile systems, to Iran, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Syria.

Earlier, the United States also lifted sanctions against Belarusian arms exporter Beltechexport which were also imposed for an alleged violation of the non-proliferation act on Iran, DPRK, and Syria.