Russia refutes anti-Iran nuclear claims

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/162184.html

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has dismissed baseless US-led allegations that the Islamic Republic is pursuing a nuclear weapons program.

"The international community so far has no proof that Iran is building nuclear weapons," he said at the annual World Economic Forum on Wednesday.

The Russian president told world leaders and top executives at the forum that his country has long-term relations with Iran.

He further pointed out that he hopes Moscow can play a fruitful role in the ongoing dialog between Iran and the West.

Medvedev also said that he told his Iranian counterpart President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a recent phone call to show that Tehran's nuclear activities are peaceful, the Associated Press reported.

Western powers accuse Tehran of following a military nuclear program, a charge repeatedly refuted by the Islamic Republic.

Last June, the UN Security Council imposed a fourth round of sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program under Western pressure.

Describing such sanctions as illegal under international law, Iran says that such measures will not prevent it from pursuing peaceful nuclear technology, which is mostly needed for curing cancer patients.

Iran says it has the right to use peaceful nuclear energy as a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Earlier this month, Tehran invited international diplomats to visit the country's nuclear sites as a goodwill gesture aimed at highlighting the "transparency" of its nuclear program.

Last week, representatives from the IAEA, the Non-Aligned Movement, Group of 77, and the Arab League made a two-day tour of the country's nuclear facilities.

The international delegates, who represented more than 120 countries, visited the heavy water reactor in the central Iranian city of Arak and toured Iran's Natanz enrichment facility.

Iran's Ambassador to the IAEA Ali Asghar Soltanieh announced that the envoys published a positive report on their visit.

The 41st World Economic Forum, aimed at fighting global financial problems, opened in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos on Wednesday.

Russia against US sanctions on Iran

Head of Iran-Russia friendship association Alexander Palishok

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/162188.html

A Russian political analyst says Moscow is opposed to unilateral US sanctions against Iran's nuclear program, describing such one-sided measures as unacceptable.

Head of Iran-Russia friendship association Alexander Palishok told IRNA on Wednesday that Russia believes that one-sided US sanctions against Iran are unacceptable and should be lifted.

He said that the Islamic Republic has the right to develop a peaceful nuclear program, reiterating that Russia supports Iran's nuclear activities.

Iran is pursuing its nuclear program within the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Palishok said.

He went on to say that Tehran has every reason to defend its nuclear program, criticizing the West's approach toward Iran's nuclear program as wrong and unacceptable.

This comes as Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday dismissed US-led allegations that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program.

"The international community so far has no proof that Iran is building nuclear weapons," he said at the annual World Economic Forum on Wednesday.

The US and its Western allies have been repeating a rhetorical claim alleging that Iran may be secretly pursuing nuclear weapons, a claim vehemently rejected by Tehran and in an obvious contradiction to numerous inspection reports by the IAEA verifying non-diversion of Iran's civilian nuclear program.

The Islamic Republic, among the original countries to sign the NPT, has initiated the idea of a Middle East free of nuclear arms. Iran has also insisted on a global elimination of nuclear weapons, a call ignored by major nuclear powers.

Apart from the UN Security Council resolutions, Iran is under unilateral US sanctions over its nuclear program.

Iran has described the sanctions as illegal, insisting that the NPT, to which it is a signatory, gives it the right to benefit from the peaceful applications of nuclear technology.

Russia: Iran N-plant immune to Stuxnet

Bushehr nuclear power plant

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/160651.html


Russia's nuclear agency Rosatom has rejected media reports that the computer virus Stuxnet has impacted Iran's nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr.

"There are no viruses in the power plant's computer network, especially in units responsible for security, because this network is totally autonomous and isolated from external sources," Xinhua quoted Rosatom spokesman Sergei Novikov as saying on Monday.

His remarks came after Western media outlets claimed on January 17 that the computer bug had caused "enormous damage" to the Bushehr reactor.

Novikov stressed that the virus could not break into the automatic control system of the plant and endanger the reactor control.

Stuxnet, first indentified by Iranian officials in June, is a malware designed to infect computers using German industrial Siemens Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) -- a control system favored by industries that manage water supplies, oil rigs, and power plants.

In July, media reports claims that Stuxnet had targeted industrial computers around the globe with Iran being the main target of the attack. They said the country's newly launched Bushehr power plant was at the center of the cyber attack.

The US and Israel have claimed that their efforts to develop the destructive computer virus have dealt a blow to Iran's nuclear program.

Iranian officials, however, have strongly dismissed such claims, saying that Stuxnet was detected early by Iranian experts and thus caused no damage to the country's industrial sites.

Russia urges stronger ties with Iran

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Mahdi Akhoundzadeh

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/160655.html


Russian special envoy for Caspian Sea affairs, Alexander Golovin, has called for a boost in Iran-Russia ties, stressing Moscow's esteem for its relations with Tehran.

“The expansion of relations between Iran and Russia, as two friendly neighbors, in all areas, especially regarding the Caspian Sea affairs, is of high significance,” IRNA quoted Golovin as saying in a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Mahdi Akhoundzadeh in Moscowon Monday.

He also expressed hope for the finalization of the Caspian Sea legal regime through a consensus among the sea's littoral states.

The Iranian official, for his part, lauded the agreements between the Caspian Sea states and said, “The Caspian Sea sets an exemplar for stability and collaboration in our region.”

Akhoundzadeh also called for improved relations and further understanding between the littoral states of the sea.

The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on earth and is also classed as a full-fledged sea.

The maritime and seabed boundaries of the Caspian Sea have yet to be demarcated among Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan -- the five countries bordering the sea.

Despite extensive negotiations, the legal status of the Caspian Sea has been unclear since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The Caspian Sea legal regime is based on two agreements signed between Iran and the Soviet Union in 1921 and 1940.

Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan -- the three new littoral states established after the collapse of the Soviet Union -- do not recognize past treaties, which has triggered a debate on the sea's legal status.

Iran should not be threatened: Russia

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/160048.html


Russia has denounced threatening Iran with tougher sanctions or use of force as counterproductive, insisting that the deadlock over Iran's nuclear program can be resolved only through diplomatic means.

Speaking at a press conference in Moscow on Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned against “stirring up frenzy” regarding the Islamic Republic's peaceful nuclear program, adding that the United States' recent call to ramp up pressure against Tehran as well as Israel's scheme to threaten Iran with the use of force will be "counterproductive," a Press TV correspondent reported.

On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for “a credible military option against Iran” in an attempt to coerce Tehran into moving towards halting its nuclear program activities.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, sought to trump up support among Iran's neighboring states to further enforce the Washington-sponsored sanctions against Tehran as she embarked on a tour of Middle East countries this week.

The remarks came forth days after Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency Ali Asghar Soltanieh said on Tuesday that a host of envoys representing "geographical and political groups in Vienna of the countries represented in the IAEA have been invited to visit Natanz enrichment facilities and Arak heavy water reactor.

Meanwhile, Russian foreign minister hailed Iran's invitation of a group of foreign diplomats to tour its nuclear facilities, saying Tehran's decision “deserves attention.”

“We believe that any gesture that indicates greater openness from Tehran should be welcomed,” Lavrov said during the press conference on Thursday.

Iran and the P5+1 representatives held their previous round of multifaceted talks in the Swiss city of Geneva on December 6-7, during which both sides agreed to hold the next round of negotiations in the Turkish city of Istanbul in late January.