The Daily Caller
Putin
To Travel To Iran For Nuclear Strategy Talks
09/14/2013
Russian
President Vladimir Putin has accepted Iran's invitation to visit Tehran to work
out a strategy for the Islamic regime's nuclear program, Fars
News Agency reported Saturday. The West believes the Iranian program is a
front for developing nuclear weapons.
Putin, seen by
Iran's clerical establishment as a strong opponent to America and the West -
especially after his successful political play on averting a U.S. missile strike
on Syria - was approached by Iran to protect the Islamic regime in the face of
continued pressure by the West over its illicit nuclear program. Russia and the U.S. reached agreement Saturday to take control
of Syrian President Bashar Assad's chemical weapons arsenal by
mid-2014.
Fars, the
media outlet run by Iran's Revolutionary Guards, said Putin will soon travel to
Tehran, although details of the trip have yet to be announced. Fars said Iranian
President Hassan Rowhani issued the invitation to Putin on Friday while both
leaders were attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Bishkek,
Kyrgyzstan. Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the Russian president
accepted.
"Russia could
possibly take new steps in solving the Iranian nuclear dossier," Rowhani said.
"The Russian initiative in relation to the Syrian chemical weapons and the steps
taken by the Syrian officials provide this hope that a new war can be averted in
the region.""Russia looks at Iran like a good neighbor," Putin was quoted as saying. "I am very happy meeting the new Iranian president and personally congratulate him for his [recent presidential] victory. . We are aware of the opinions on the world's stage in relation with Iran's nuclear program; however, we have to also consider that Iran is our neighbor, a good neighbor."
There were conflicting reports last week that Russia might increase its arms sales to Iran should Syria be attacked, including the delivery of its sophisticated surface-to-air missile system, the S300.
The Russian newspaper Kommersant had reported that Putin had decided to deliver five battalions of the S300s should Iran withdraw its claim of $4 billion in damages due to a breach of an original contract by Russia signed in 2007 worth $800 million.
In September
2010, then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, under pressure by America and the
West, signed a decree that banned the delivery of the S300 systems to the
Islamic Republic. Iranian leaders, infuriated by this action, then filed a
complaint against Russia's arms export company, Rosoboronexport, with the
International Court in Geneva.
Both Russia
and Iran have strongly supported Syria's Bashar Assad, with Iranian leaders
warning that any intervention in Syria would cross a red
line.
Meanwhile on
Saturday, the leader of Iran's proxy militia group in Iraq, Al-Mukhtar, warned
that if America at any time attacks Syria, its forces would attack the oilfields
of Saudi Arabia, thereby cutting off the "economic jugular" of the
West.
"America's
attack on Syria will be the end of Saudi Arabia because the Saudi leaders
promote the Syrian attack," Wathiq al-Battat said, according to Keyhan
newspaper, which is directly supervised by Iran's supreme
leader.Battat threatened that his group would target the Saudi ports of Abqaiq, Juaymah and Ras Tanura, one of the largest in the world, and that his militants would also attack Saudi gas and oil pipelines, power lines and communication towers.
Gen. Qassem
Soleimani, the commander of Iran's Quds Forces, addressing a forum on Saturday,
boasted about the power of the "Resistance Front" [Iran, Syria
and Hezbollah] and stated, "In the eyes of the West, Zionists and the
reactionary regimes, Syria's real problem is not the ruling of the minority
Alawites [who rule Syria] or the lack of democracy, but the reality is that the
West and the reactionary regimes know that the Resistance's powerful position in
the region is indebted to the Syrian government."
Reza Kahlili is a pseudonym for a former CIA operative in
Iran's Revolutionary Guard and author of the award-winning book "A Time to Betray" (Simon & Schuster, 2010). He serves on
the Task Force on National and Homeland Security and the advisory board of the
Foundation for Democracy in Iran (FDI).
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