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Washington Urges Russia To Isolate Iran
April 21, 2006 -- Washington today called on Russia to stop any arms deals with Iran in order to put pressure on Tehran to abandon its nuclear program.
U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns says Moscow should cancel the planned sale to Iran of "Tor-M1" surface-to-air missiles. Moscow and Tehran both say the missiles are meant for defensive purposes.
In Minsk, Belarusian Defense Minister Leanid Maltseu announced that Russia today began delivering advanced S-300SP anti-aircraft missiles to Belarus. He also denied a report in a prominent London-based defense journal that the missiles are meant to be transferred on to Iran.
"Jane's Intelligence Digest" reported that Belarus agreed in January to transfer the Russian-made S-300SP missiles to Iran in order to help Tehran bolster its defenses against any possible U.S. or Israeli air strikes on its nuclear facilities.
Iranian Commerce Minister Masud Mir-Kazemi, who headed a recent trade delegation to Minsk, denies that Iran wants to acquire S-300 anti-aircraft missiles.
Russian Resistance
In response to Burns' comments, Russia today reiterated its resistance to U.S. calls to isolate Iran.
Nikolai Spassky, deputy head of the Kremlin Security Council, rejected talk by the United States and Britain asking the UN Security Council to impose sanctions.
Washington has also called on Moscow to end cooperation in constructing Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant.
The United States and Britain say if Iran does not comply with an April 28 Security Council deadline to stop uranium enrichment, they will seek to make the demand compulsory.
(AP, Reuters, AFP)
Copyright (c) 2006. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
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