Moscow Backs Iran's Nuke Program

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that he is convinced Iran does not intend to develop nuclear weapons and said he plans to visit Iran.

Putin, at a meeting with Iranian National Security Council chief Hasan Rohani, also said Russia would continue its nuclear cooperation with Iran. Moscow has helped Iran build a nuclear reactor, a project that has been heavily criticized by the United States, which fears it could be used to help Tehran develop nuclear weapons.

"The latest steps from Iran confirm that Iran does not intend to produce nuclear weapons and we will continue to develop relations in all spheres, including the peaceful use of nuclear energy," Putin said.

"We hope that Iran will strictly adhere to all international agreements, in relation to Russia and the international community," he said, adding that he had accepted an invitation by Iran's leadership for him to visit the country.

Russia's nuclear chief is expected in Iran next week to sign a protocol on returning spent nuclear fuel to Russia, the only remaining obstacle to the launch of the Russian-built reactor. If the signing goes ahead as planned on Feb. 26, it would pave the way for the deliveries of Russian nuclear fuel for the Bushehr reactor, which is set to begin operating in early 2006.

The protocol is aimed at reducing concerns that Iran could reprocess spent nuclear fuel from the $800 million Bushehr reactor to extract plutonium, which could be used in nuclear weapons. Moscow says that having Iran ship spent nuclear fuel back to Russia, along with international monitoring, will make any such project impossible.

Rohani acknowledged that the international community has long expressed concern about Iran's nuclear program, "but now, no one can doubt that Iran's nuclear program has a peaceful character."

Washington, however, continues to accuse Tehran of having a secret nuclear weapons program.

Russia supports European diplomatic efforts to persuade Iran to permanently abandon its uranium enrichment program. Iran has warned it will resume all nuclear activities it has suspended if talks don't make progress by mid-March.

Iran warned Thursday that any strike on its nuclear facilities will draw a swift and crushing response and called for an expansion of its newly emerging strategic alliance with Syria to create a powerful united Islamic front that could confront Washington and Israel.

The warning by the country's defense minister and the call for an Islamic alliance reflected Iran's concern about growing U.S. pressure to drop all its nuclear ambitions. With Syria under similarly strong American scrutiny — in its case for its role in Lebanon and as an alleged sponsor of terrorism — the two nations were trying to diminish Washington's efforts to isolate them.

Despite tough talk, the Bush administration has stuck with diplomatic pressure against both countries. Still, fears it will attack one or the other abound, and Iranian Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani was quoted Thursday by state-run radio as saying Iranian retaliation would be harsh.

"When the Iranian nation sees our crushing response to the enemy, it should know one of our nuclear or non-nuclear facilities has been attacked," he said a day after an explosion in southwestern Iran near a nuclear facility that initially was reported as a missile strike. After varying possible explanations, Iranian authorities said it was due to construction work on a dam.

Former President Hashemi Rafsanjani's call for a powerful alliance among Islamic nations was another sign of the tense situation; it came a day after Syria and Iran declared they would form a united front in the face of any threats.

However, the idea appeared unlikely to go far, with many key Arab states — Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia — close Washington allies and long suspicious of Iran's Shiite Muslim clerical regime.

After meeting with visiting Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Naji al-Otari, Rafsanjani said the United States and Israel were trying to create divisions among regional countries, which he said must "stay completely vigilant vis-a-vis the U.S. and Israeli plots in this regard," the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported. Rafsanjani is widely expected to run in June presidential elections,

Iran and Syria long have maintained warm relations. Syria was the only Arab country that remained allied to Iran during the 1980-88 war and the two countries often coordinate on foreign policy, especially with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the war on Iraq.

"The Iranian-Syrian common front is not a new phenomenon. Iran and Syria have been strategic allies for the past 2 1/2 decades. What was declared Wednesday was insistence on more coordination and cooperation between the two in the face of growing U.S. hostility," said Mohammad Sadeq al-Hosseini, an Iranian expert on Arab affairs.

"The declaration may lead to closer high-level contacts so that the two can assist each other at crucial moments," he said, noting Iran was a major power in the Gulf. "Closer cooperation between Tehran and Damascus can help delay U.S. plans against the two countries."

President Mohammad Khatami, who also met al-Otari, said Iran and Syria would safeguard their political relations by strengthening their economic ties, IRNA reported.

Pressure on Syria has grown since Monday's assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. Many Lebanese accuse Syria or the pro-Syrian Lebanese government of involvement, which both deny. After, the United States recalled its ambassador to Damascus.

On Thursday, President Bush said he did not know if Syria was involved in Hariri's killing, but that it was "out of step with the progress being made in the greater Middle East." The ambassador's withdrawal, he noted, indicates "the relationship is not moving forward."

Mr. Bush, who has said a U.S. military strike against Iran is "not on the agenda at this point," also said Thursday that the United States would support Israel "if her security is threatened."

Israel has warned that it may consider a pre-emptive strike against Iranian nuclear installations along the lines of its 1981 bombing of an unfinished Iraqi nuclear reactor near Baghdad.