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Israel
Dictating Unconstructive U.S. View of Russia-Iran Ties: Official
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| Israel is dictating to the United States an unconstructive view of Russia’s cooperation program with Iran |
MOSCOW,
August 23 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Russia accused Israel
Thursday, August 22, of dictating to the United States an
“unconstructive” view of Moscow’s cooperation program with Iran.
Meanwhile, Russia opposed a regime change in Iraq, warning the U.S.
against war.
“The
Americans have no direct interest in preventing Russo-Iranian
cooperation,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Trubnikov
told the ITAR-TASS news agency.
“It
is Israel which is expressing its grievances against Tehran through
the mouthpiece of the United States,” he said.
Washington
is mainly concerned with Russia’s cooperation with Iran in building
a nuclear power plant at Bushehr, arguing that the nuclear technology
involved could be adapted to military use.
However,
the U.S. is not expressing the same worries toward its closest ally,
Israel, which also has nuclear power.
U.S.
President George W. Bush has named Iran, alongside Iraq and North
Korea, as part of an “axis of evil” which he claims is seeking to
develop weapons of mass destruction.
The
dispute threatened to boil over last month when Russia announced plans
to expand its Iranian program to include construction of five new
nuclear reactors in addition to the Bushehr plant.
The
Russian government appeared later to back-track from the plans,
describing the program as a framework agreement whose details had not
yet been finalized.
On
Wednesday, August 21, a U.S. Congressional delegation visiting Moscow
said it would be “regrettable” if the “recent developments”
over Iran chilled the increasingly warm relations between the two
countries since President Vladimir Putin last year adopted a
pro-Western foreign policy in the wake of September 11 terror attacks
on U.S. cities.
Trubnikov,
who met the delegation Wednesday, reaffirmed the standard Russian view
that the cooperation program with Iran is “absolutely transparent
and legitimate, in line with Russia’s commitments under the
non-proliferation treaty, which Iran has also signed.”
“Moscow
is in regular political dialogue with Tehran on problems relating to
the fight against terrorism,” he said.
Officials
meanwhile said talks between Russian and Iranian officials in Moscow
this week had identified a number of issues relating to export control
on which the two sides disagreed, AFP said.
“The
Russian and Iranian positions on most strategic stability issues
including non-proliferation and arms control were close or similar,
... (but) certain differences remain on a number of issues relating to
export regimes,” Russian diplomatic sources said, as quoted by the
Interfax news agency.
However
the differences on export control mechanisms were “not
confrontational,” the sources said.
Iran
was represented in the talks by Zamani Nia, head of the Iranian
foreign ministry’s international policy issues section, who arrived
in Moscow Tuesday, August 20 for a three-day visit.
Meanwhile,
Russia said Thursday it opposes the U.S. goal of regime change in Iraq
and warned that military action to topple President Saddam Hussein
could have negative consequences in the Arab world.
Deputy
Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Trubnikov was quoted by ITAR-TASS as
saying Moscow “was not in agreement with the objective advanced by
the United States of a regime change in Baghdad,” partly because
Iraq has condemned the September 11 attacks in the United States and
“confirmed its rejection of extremism.”
He
pointed out that there was no evidence of any link between Osama bin
Laden’s Al-Qaeda network and Iraq, nor any proof that “Iraqi
biological and chemical weapons could have been provided to Islamic
radicals.”
U.S.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Wednesday that relations
between Washington and Moscow would not be affected in the event of a
U.S. attack on Iraq.
But
Trubnikov said that any such action, designed to overthrow Saddam,
would “have negative consequences in the Arab world and in European
countries, including in Russia.”
In
remarks to the press and U.S. soldiers in Texas, Rumsfeld cautioned
Russia against engaging in economic dealings with Iraq, warning it may
have a negative impact in the West.
“My
impression is that the Russian administration is fairly pragmatic at
this stage, and their interest in the United States is greater than
their interest in Iraq,” he said.
Amid
international refusal, the U.S. administration has been considering a
range of military options in Iraq, from a large-scale invasion with
some 250,000 men to a smaller strike at power centers in Baghdad with
as few as 50,000 troops.
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