President Putin: Iran has not rejected Moscow's proposal
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Moscow, Jan 17, IRNA
Putin-Iran-Nuclear
Russia's President Vladimir Putin said here Monday, "The Iranian officials have still not officially rejected Moscow's proposal for uranium enrichment on Russian soil for Iranian nuclear reactors."
President Putin made the comment after his talks with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel at Kremlin, adding, "We have proposed the establishment of a joint uranium enrichment facility in Russia, and we have received different responses from Iranian concerned officials in that respect."
He added, "One of those responses, was made by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, based on which our proposal has not been rejected by Iran." Putin who was speaking at a joint press conference with Merkel, added, "In my talks today with Ms. Merkel we discussed Iran's nuclear program and I notice that Russia's viewpoints on the issue are quite close to Germany's."
The Russian President emphasized, "In dealing with Iran's issue we need to act very patiently and refrain from adopting any hurried decision."
Referring to the Monday EU3 meeting on Iran's nuclear program, in which representatives from Russia, China, and the United States, too, were present, Putin said, "Our partners' deputy foreign ministers had a meeting on the issue today, and we have to wait for its outcome." "Russia will continue cooperating with our European and American colleagues to resolve the Iranian problem," he added.
Iran insists that it is only interested in developing a civil nuclear programme, but critics, led by Washington, suspect Iran of seeking nuclear weapons.
Pressure has built on Moscow to support the referral of Iran's nuclear program to the Security Council after Tehran announced it intended to resume nuclear research earlier this month.
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