Thread: Russia's Lavrov warns against attack on Iran

Russia's Lavrov warns against attack on Iran

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press Writer
Fri Jun 20, 8:33 AM ET

MOSCOW - Russia's foreign minister on Friday warned against the use of force on Iran, saying there is no proof it is trying to build nuclear weapons.
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Sergey Lavrov said Iran should be engaged in dialogue and encouraged to cooperate with the U.N. nuclear monitoring agency.

Lavrov made the statement when asked to comment on an Israeli Cabinet member's statement earlier this month that Israel could attack Iran if it does not halt its nuclear program.

"I hope the actual actions would be based on international law," Lavrov said. "And international law clearly protects Iran's and anyone else's territorial integrity."

Israel's military refused to confirm or deny a report Friday that its warplanes staged a major rehearsal this month for a possible attack on Iran.

The New York Times report quoted U.S. officials as saying more than 100 Israeli F-16s and F-15s staged the maneuver over the eastern Mediterranean and Greece in the first week of June. It said the aircraft flew more than 900 miles (1,450 kilometers), roughly the distance from Israel to Iran's Natanz nuclear enrichment facility, and that the exercise included refueling tankers and helicopters capable of rescuing downed pilots.

Lavrov said Russia had asked both the United States and Israel to provide factual information to back their claims that Iran was working to build atomic weapons. "So far we have seen none, and the same conclusion was made by the International Atomic Energy Agency," he said.

"It's absolutely not right to speak matter-of-factly that Iran continues building nuclear weapons," Lavrov added.

Iran insists its enrichment program is meant only to generate electricity. But because of its past clandestine activities, including some that could have applications for weapons research, the international community is concerned that Tehran wants to enrich uranium to a purity suitable for use in atomic bombs.

The IAEA suggested in a report to the U.N. Security Council last month that Iran was stonewalling investigators and possibly withholding information crucial to determining whether it conducted research on nuclear weapons.

Lavrov insisted that Iran must be encouraged to continue its cooperation with the U.N. monitoring agency.

"As long as the IAEA reports to us progress in its relations with Iran, as long as Iran closes the issues which were of concern to the IAEA and this process continues, we should avoid any steps which could undermine this very important process," he said, speaking in English.

Russia has maintained close ties with Iran and is building its first nuclear power plant in the southern port of Bushehr, which is expected to go on line later this year. It has backed limited U.N. sanctions aimed at forcing Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment program, but has opposed the U.S. push for harsher measures.

"The key to resolving the Iranian issue is involvement," Lavrov said. "We must involve Iran, engage Iran in resolving the Iranian nuclear program, ... but also engage Iran in constructive, respectful, serious dialogue on Iraq and Afghanistan, on the Middle East in general."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080620/ap_ ... ussia_iran

Rumors of war...

The tension is definately increasing.

I remember a few years back when russia was in shambles and we were sending them boatloads of aid in the form of American tax payed dollars,now they want to side with any one that hates us.

The day, 9-11, I drive like a crazy person with my baby to get my daughter out of middle school. I was the only parent there! The lady manning the school door says as I am leaving with my daughter, "Do you think it is the Russians?"

Dare I say I looked at her crazily and said, "This is not the Russians' doings!"

Citizens in schools and on the streets are not listening and watching for Americans' enemies.

Wonderful, what is in their vodka? Bush never talks about his good buddy in Russia anymore.... I wondered what was up when he was wheeling and dealing with Russia, anyway. Iran and Russia are old friends, believe me.

Here's a thought: We have the Christians, the Muslims, and Russians (no god) so who is playing devil's advocate.

Iran and Russia are old friends, believe me.

I think the situation is far more serious than a lot of average Americans are realizing. We're so used to hearing about this and that problem in the Middle East that we've become desensitized.

Many people are so angry with President Bush that they may want to believe that he just wants us to get involved in another war for nothing. I can understand how a person might feel that way, but I believe we need to really look at this situation with Iran very carefully. In a way to say that it is really a situation with Russia doesn't seem to be too far from the truth. I'm no expert, that's for sure, but I'm convinced that to just close our eyes and ears and blame him or say that he's blowing the situation out of proportion could be a disasterous mistake.

I'm convinced that the situation is extremely serious.

Some experts say that our true most serious enemy in the world is Russia.

It did seem that President Bush and Vladimir Putin had a little rapport there for a couple of years, but that seems to have changed.

Vladimir started acting like a dictator and then the Bush Administration made a few comments about it (if you ask me they were pretty weak and soft comments too), but then Vladimir seemed to develop an attitude and it seems to have been down hill since then.

For whatever it's worth that's been my observation of things as far as Russia goes.

OBVIOUSLY there's a lot more to it than that though.