TEHRAN, Oct 16: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday warned against military action against Iran and backed its right to nuclear energy, during the first visit to the country by a Kremlin chief since the World War II.

Putin, attending a summit meeting of Caspian Sea states, arrived in the Iranian capital amid heavy security and secrecy over his travel plans after reports that a squad of suicide bombers planned to kill him.

His visit is of major significance for the Islamic republic at a time of mounting tensions with the West over its atomic drive. Putin met President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and was also to see supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“It is important... that we not only do not use any kind of force but also do not even think about the possibility of using force,” Putin told the four other Caspian Sea leaders gathered for the summit.

“It is also important that we talk about the impossibility of using our territory for other countries to carry out aggression or military action against other Caspian littoral states.” Along with the presidents of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan, Putin declared the states “would not allow their territory to be used by a third country to commit military action against one of the parties.” The United States has never ruled out military action against Tehran but Iran’s northern neighbour Azerbaijan, a US ally, has repeatedly insisted it would not allow the US military to launch an attack from its soil.

The declaration also supported Iran’s right to nuclear energy, which the United States claims Iran only wants as cover for an atomic weapons’ drive.

It backed the right of Non-Proliferation Treaty members to “research, produce and use nuclear energy for peaceful ends, without discrimination, within the framework of this treaty and the mechanisms of the UN nuclear watchdog.” The countries had “expressed the idea that peaceful nuclear activities must be allowed,” Putin told a news conference.

“Russia is the only country helping Iran to construct a nuclear power station for peaceful ends,” Putin added, referring to the still unfinished project to build Iran’s first nuclear energy plant in Bushehr.

Putin’s comments highlighted the differences between Russia and the West, which is seeking more unilateral and UN sanctions to punish Iran for its nuclear programme.

Russia however has insisted diplomacy is the way to solve the standoff and has said it is not convinced by the western claims Iran’s nuclear programme is military in nature. Iran insists the atomic drive is entirely peaceful.

Reports on Russian news agencies of an assassination threat had cast doubt over whether Putin would go ahead with the visit and his arrival was delayed from the scheduled touchdown on Monday evening.

But much to the relief of Iranian officials, his plane finally landed at Tehran’s Mehrabad airport early Tuesday.

Russia’s Interfax news agency, citing a source in the Russian special services, had reported on Sunday that a group of suicide bombers would try to kill Putin in Tehran. The Kremlin said Putin had been notified of the report.

Iranian media reported that Putin’s armour-plated car had been air-freighted into Tehran ahead of his visit to ensure his security.

His exact travel plans were kept closely under wraps, with Russian officials refusing even to disclose what time he left Germany after talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel for the five-hour flight to Iran.

Putin had insisted that he would “of course” press ahead with his visit, saying that talking directly to Iran’s leaders could help end the standoff over its nuclear programme.

The Islamic republic has regularly hosted allies who share its antipathy towards the United States such as Belarus President Aleksander Lukashenko, Syrian President Basher al-Assad, and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez.

But a visit by a statesman of Putin’s stature -- his country is a veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council -- is a major event.

The last Russian leader to visit Iran was former USSR Communist Party General Secretary Josef Stalin, who attended the famous conference of the “Big Three” World War II allied powers in Tehran in 1943 alongside Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt.--AFP