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| Russia Won't Allow US to Use Azerbaijani Radar: Iran |
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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) |
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