Russia raises bar for Obama on Iran

[AfricaOwn]

Moscow raises the ante against Washington, saying the time has come for the White House to begin negotiations with Iran in earnest.

 

Only hours after US President Barack Obama tabled a motion to shelve missile plans in Eastern Europe in exchange for Moscow's volte-face on Iran, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged Washington to focus on rapprochement with Tehran.

 

"We very much want the American side not just to join with the sextet [britain, France, Russia, China, the US and Germany] on paper, but to join talks with Iran that the sextet is proposing," ITAR-Tass quoted Lavrov as saying on a flight from Egypt to Spain late Monday.

 

Lavrov suggested that the two countries restore full diplomatic relations, affirming the contention in the Kremlin that Iran-US peace "would be an important element in stabilizing the situation in the region".

 

The US ballistic missile defense (BMD) plan in Eastern Europe has been a subject of fierce debate in recent months, pushing Washington-Moscow relations to the lowest ebb since the Cold War.

 

The US had devised plans to station 10 silo-based missiles in Poland and a missile-tracking radar in the Czech Republic, allegedly to defend against missile threats. Russia, however, contends that the US missile system is a threat on its doorstep and has threatened to deploy short-range Iskander-M missiles on the Polish border in response.

 

Over the past weeks, the Obama administration has strived to employ its plans to install a controversial missile defense system in Europe as an opening gambit to dissuade Russia from supporting Iran in its nuclear activities.

 

Washington spearheads accusations that Iran, a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), seeks nuclear weapons development.

 

Iran, however, says it enriches uranium for civilian applications and that it has a right to the technology already in the hands of many others.

 

Russian daily Kommersant reported Monday that Obama has written a letter to his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev, renewing a proposal to halt BMD plans as part of efforts to "hit the reset button" and buy Russian support for tougher sanctions against Tehran.

 

The Iranian response to the report was given by Defense Minister Mohammad Najjar, who recently asserted that Tehran was not the least bit worried by Washington's attempts to use its missile plans as a means to encourage anti-Iran sentiments in Moscow.

 

 

"Russian officials are well aware that Moscow, rather than Iran, is the target of Washington's missile plans," said Najjar, suggesting that the project also seeks to drive a wedge between Russia and European countries.