Iran Sunday said it had received indications from Russia's
president that he would not follow through with an offer to allow
the US to use a radar station in neighboring Azerbaijan for missile
defense against Teheran.
Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed
Washington use a radar station in northeast Azerbaijan rented by
Moscow to counter a potential threat from Iran, a surprise
counteroffer to US plans to install a missile defense shield in
eastern Europe to protect NATO allies against a missile launch by
Teheran.
But Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini
Sunday said that Russian officials had indicated to Teheran that
Putin would not allow the plan to go through.
"It seems Russia does not plan to make decisions that may cause
instability and insecurity in the region, where it (Russia) is
located" said Hosseini. Azerbaijan shares borders with both Russia
to the north and Iran to the south.
Russia has not publicly altered its offer for the US to use the
Gabala radar station and had no immediate comment Sunday on Iran's
claim.
Hosseini said Iran had summoned the Russian and Azerbaijani
ambassadors to Teheran to discuss Putin's proposal. He said Iranian
ambassadors in Moscow and Baku, Azerbaijan's capital, had also
discussed the issue with their host countries.
Iran Sunday said that it would likely resume talks with European
officials over its disputed nuclear program in the next few
days.
New talks with EU possible
The talks would be a follow-up to discussions in Madrid at the
end of May between EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Ali
Larijani, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator.
"Negotiations between Solana and Larijani will probably be held
in the coming days," Spokesman Hosseini said Sunday during his
weekly press conference. "Contacts have continued between the two
parties to decide the time and place of the talks."
The main purpose of the last set of Iran-EU talks was to find a
way to bridge the impasse over Iran's rejection of UN Security
Council demands that it suspend uranium enrichment.
During their last meeting, Larijani told Solana that Iran was
ready to remove ambiguities related to its nuclear activities, but
a senior Iranian envoy recently canceled talks with the UN's
nuclear watchdog, dashing hopes that Teheran is ready to change its
behavior.
Despite these tensions, Hosseini said Sunday that the West's
stance on Iran's nuclear program had softened recently.
"The tendency towards a harsh attitude was weakening in both the
US and Europe," said Hosseini. "Now, they are attempting to pursue
a trend of logical talks more."
(China Daily via agencies June 18, 2007)
