Posted on 10/14/2005 6:55:04 PM PDT by FairOpinion
MOSCOW (AP) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is seeking Russian support for a tougher line in the nuclear standoff with Iran as she tries to ensure a united European front.
After consulting with French leaders on Iran and other Middle East issues, Rice shuttled to the Russian capital on Friday ahead of hastily arranged meetings Saturday with Russian President Vladimir Putin and others. The consultations were coming six weeks before a vote over Tehran's nuclear program at the United Nation's nuclear watchdog agency.
France, Britain and Germany have led an effort to persuade Iran to drop what the United States insists is a covert drive for nuclear weapons. Iran's new hard-line government walked away from talks and has resumed nuclear activities it suspended during negotiations.
``We hope that the Iranians will return to the table to discuss ... what a negotiated solution might be,'' Rice said after meetings in Paris with French President Jacques Chirac and French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy.
Rice planned to meet with Putin and Russia's foreign secretary, Sergey Lavrov. She squeezed in an overnight trip to Moscow before backtracking to London for more talks Saturday and Sunday on Iran and other Middle East topics.
The International Atomic Energy Agency last month passed a resolution warning Tehran it would be referred to the U.N. Security Council unless it allayed fears about its nuclear program. Another vote is planned for Nov. 24, and it is not clear how the Russians will vote.
Russia handed the United States a subtle diplomatic victory last month when it abstained, rather than vote no, on a measure setting up possible U.N. punishment over a nuclear energy program in Iran. The United States insists Iran is trying to make a bomb.
The European negotiators were trying to broker a deal that would allow Iran to continue what it says is a peaceful nuclear energy program, without allowing the Tehran regime full access to nuclear technology that could be easily transferred to make weapons instead of electricity.
Russia could be an important go-between. Moscow is an Iranian ally and is helping the Tehran regime set up part of its declared nuclear energy program. The Iranian-Russian arrangement keeps some of the most sensitive nuclear technology out of direct Iranian control.
The United States is expected to make a strong push to bring Iran before the U.N. Security Council. Russia and China, both allies of Iran and permanent members of the Security Council, could block economic sanctions or other tough punishment at the Security Council if the case gets that far.
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said the threat of the Security Council is enough to persuade Iran to drop its demands for full access to nuclear technology.
``There is a necessity to explain that with the Russians and the Chinese,'' Douste-Blazy said Friday.
Iran has said it has nothing to fear from the Security Council, presumably out of confidence that Russia and China would veto a tough proposal for punishment from the United States or the Europeans.
``We must make the Security Council option credible,'' Douste-Blazy said.
Rice was circumspect.
``We're in discussions and I think there will be further discussions in Moscow,'' she said in reply to a question about Iran. ``We are not today talking about new steps,'' she said, adding that the Europeans are taking the lead in finding a solution.
The United States has had no diplomatic relations with Iran since the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, in which American diplomats were held hostage for more than a year. The United States already maintains its own strict economic sanctions on Iran.
Rice's discussions on Iran come at a sensitive time. Iran has indicated a willingness to return to negotiations, but not to drop what it calls its right to full nuclear know-how. Iran's supreme leader also may be trying to undercut the authority of Iran's new hard-line government.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei recently strengthened the powers of Expediency Council chief Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president who lost to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June's elections. He recently criticized the handling of Iran's nuclear issue by Ahmadinejad's government.
The Russians will have to see something in it for themselves ebfore they'll come on board. It doesn't look very good in the sense that the US may be putting bases in Bulgaria and Rumania--former Eastern Bloc countries---surely that's making the Russians jump for joy. How much are the Iranians helping the Chechens? If there is anything the Iranians are doing behind Russia's back then Russia will sing a different tune. I don't think the mullah's will bite the Russian helping hand.
I think that if we changed our stance on the Chechen situation, calling them terrorists such as they are, President Bush and pootie could work something out.
I hope Rice is discussing this now.
LLS
Yes, things are beginning to happen now that Powell has left. Sorry but that guy was pretty worthless and overrated.
The following is another initiative she has going.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1502733/posts
russia will not go against iran. im quite surprised the the fools we hire to work in washington dont know this yet. iran is a plum for both russia and china, while for us she is a poisonous flower. let us not forget who gave us this wonderful scenario, yes a dem named jimmy carter.
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