Russia Respects Iran’s Right to a Nuclear Programme – Russian Official

Text of report by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS

Tehran, 28 January: Russia respects Iran’s lawful right to develop a nuclear programme, the secretary of the Russian Federation Security Council, Igor Ivanov, stated in Tehran today. “Unresolved questions pertaining to previous programmes between the Islamic Republic and the IAEA must be closed,” Ivanov said.

“We believe in this respect that the recent initiative of the IAEA director-general to take a kind of timeout, which would, on the one hand, envisage the suspension of Iran’s uranium-enrichment programme and, on the other hand, the suspension of the UN Security Council’s resolution 1737 deserves serious attention,” Ivanov pointed out.

He stressed that “Russia has always favoured the political solution of issues connected with the Iranian nuclear problem”. “The Iranian nuclear problem cannot be solved by force,” the secretary of the Russian Security Council stated. “Efforts should be focused on the political settlement of the situation.”

Igor Ivanov also noted that Moscow and Tehran “share many areas in which their interests objectively coincide and good opportunities exist for trade and economic cooperation”. “We are happy to note that the spiritual leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamene’i, and Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinezhad unambiguously favour the comprehensive development of cooperation with the Russian Federation and raising the level of such cooperation,” he added. “Naturally, we exchanged opinions on the situation in the region, which remains in a deep crisis. This concerns the situation in Iraq, the Middle East and Afghanistan,” Ivanov added.

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