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MOSCOW, Aug 22: Russia accused Israel on Thursday of dictating to the United States an “unconstructive” view of Moscow’s cooperation programme with Iran.
“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 Moscow’s cooperation with Tehran in building a nuclear power plant at Bushehr, arguing that the nuclear technology involved could be adapted to military use.
The dispute threatened to boil over last month when Russia announced plans to expand its Iranian programme 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 programme as a framework agreement whose details had not yet been finalized.
On Wednesday a US 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 Sept 11 attacks in US cities.
Trubnikov, who met the delegation on Wednesday, reaffirmed the standard Russian view that the cooperation programme 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 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.
“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 on Tuesday for a three-day visit.
US WARNING: A senior US Congress delegation warned Russia on Wednesday that its drive for closer ties with Iraq and Iran could hurt rapidly-improving relations between the two countries, the US embassy in Moscow said.
Moscow and Washington shed old animosities and began a rapprochement after the Sept 11 attacks on the United States, but Russia has refused to give up lucrative business with Iraq and Iran — nations branded part of an “axis of evil” by US President George W. Bush.
Adding to US concerns, Moscow announced last week it was working on a $40-billion economic cooperation agreement with Iraq. It has also said it was considering building five nuclear reactors for Iran.
“Over the past year, US-Russian relations have greatly improved, and it would be very regrettable to have these recent developments chill an otherwise blossoming relationship,” US congressman Henry J. Hyde told Russian parliamentarians.
Hyde, chairman of the International Relations Committee of the US House of Representatives, led a bipartisan delegation which arrived in Moscow to discuss ties between the two nations.
The congressmen met key Russian officials, including First Deputy Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Trubnikov and deputy speaker of the State Duma.—AFP / Reuters
