Rice Fails to Gain Russia Support on Iran

Saul Hudson, Reuters:

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice courted Russian support on Saturday for the U.S. hard line over Iran's nuclear programme, but there was no public sign Moscow was shifting to back Washington's policy.

Rice was later to press President Vladimir Putin to commit to backing U.S.-led efforts to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council if it continues to reject talks with European powers and keeps up sensitive nuclear-related activities, diplomats said.

The top U.S. diplomat's visit was announced late on Thursday and squeezed into a planned trip to France and Britain in a gesture that plays to Russia's sense of pride and reflects an increasing U.S. awareness it needs Moscow's help on Iran.

"We and Russia have found common cause in our attempts to help the Europeans and other countries to get the Iranians to first of all remove the many questions ... about their programmes," Rice told reporters after talks with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. READ MORE

The United States and European Union want the 35-member board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N. nuclear watchdog, to report Iran to the Security Council for possible sanctions.

Lavrov on Saturday argued for more time, saying the IAEA should be allowed longer to inspect Iran's nuclear sites.

"We think the current situation allows us to actively work with Iran through the IAEA," he said. "We do not see grounds for passing this (issue) to other organs."

Russia was the second of three countries with Security Council vetoes where Rice was due to hold talks over three days in an effort to build support against Iran before a vote in the IAEA board next month on Tehran's nuclear programme.

Curbing Tehran's nuclear programmes is a top foreign policy priority for Rice due to American fears an Iranian nuclear bomb would threaten U.S. allies across the Middle East.

Iran denies U.S. charges it wants to build nuclear bombs and says its programmes are aimed at the peaceful generation of electricity.

TEHRAN ACCUSED

Raising the U.S. rhetoric against Iran, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton accused Tehran of spending the last 18 years trying to develop nuclear weapons to intimidate the Middle East and "possibly to supply to terrorists".

In an interview with the BBC broadcast late on Friday, he said Iran had lied about its nuclear programme and urged the international community to react.

"I think that the Iranians have been pursuing a nuclear weapons programme for up to 18 years," he said. "They have engaged in concealment and deception and they've engaged in threats before.

Russia's strong commercial ties give it leverage over Iran but also mean it stands to lose more than most should a Security Council referral lead to sanctions against the Islamic republic.

Russia has bowed to U.S. pressure and put strict conditions on a nuclear reactor deal it has with Iran.

But in September it disappointed the United States and the EU by abstaining at an IAEA vote on a resolution requiring that Iran be referred to the Security Council at an unspecified date.

Now Rice, who met French President Jacques Chirac on Friday and will see Prime Minister Tony Blair on Sunday, wants to see what it will take for Putin to back an actual referral.

(Additional reporting by Oliver Bullough)