Iran's Nuclear Program Peaceful, Russia Says

The Kremlin administration highlighted on Tuesday the fact that it continues to support the idea that its Iranian counterpart does not develop a harmful nuclear program, since it does not possess any information in that regard, Reuters reports. Thus, the path of political dialogue should be pursued in nuclear negotiations, and not that of warnings and threats of sanctions.

"We do not have information that would suggest that Iran is carrying out a non-peaceful (nuclear) program. We believe that the possibilities for continuing political discussion around this problem (Iran's nuclear program) have not been exhausted. Sanctions should not be adopted for their own sake", Igor Ivanov, the Secretary of the Russian Security Council, highlighted during a press conference in Moscow on Tuesday.

On the other hand, he pleaded with Iran to display more cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency: "We think that Iran should not drag out the process, but show more zeal in the clarification of remaining questions. From our point of view, Iran is interested in that (the IAEA assessment of the Iranian nuclear program). An IAEA report confirming that the Iranian nuclear program is totally peaceful will be good for Tehran", he said.

During a telephone conversation between Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on Monday, regarding the seemingly never ending nuclear dispute linked to the Iranian nuclear enrichment schedule, the former stressed upon the fact that the main reason why European countries do not succeed in making their point of view known across is their lack of authority.

"The most important problem in continuing Iran and Europe's negotiations (over the nuclear issue) is the European side's lack of enough authority (to take decisions)", the Iranian state television quoted Ahmadinejad. "Some Western countries create obstacles and prevent a peaceful solution to Iran's nuclear case", he added.

In reply, Putin told Ahmadinejad that the latter can count on his further support in advocating for negotiations and not sanctions against the Islamic republic, an idea which is shared by the Tehran administration.