Russia Urges Dialogue With Iran

Source; Alalam TV, 12-03-2008
PARIS--Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has urged the international community to do "everything possible" to engage Iran in negotiations over its nuclear program.
Lavrov's comments came a week after the UN Security Council tightened sanctions against Tehran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment.
Tehran has always maintained that it needs nuclear technology for civilian purposes, including electricity generation for a growing population.
"We must seek an innovative approach. This means first and foremost doing everything possible -- and even impossible -- to begin discussions with Iran," said Lavrov in Paris on Tuesday.
The Russian foreign minister was speaking after talks with his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner.
Iran on Sunday said it would only hold talks over its nuclear program if world powers stopped threatening it with further punitive measures.
"The time of using the policy of the carrot and the stick has ended," Javad Vaeedi, a top national security official, said in Tehran.
"If they (the West) want to have serious negotiations, in fair conditions and taking into account the interests of the two parties, they must first stop threatening."
In response to third anti-Iran Security Council resolution, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rejected new talks with the European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
Solana has represented world powers in past discussions on the nuclear issue.
Lavrov said the issue of Iran's nuclear program had been discussed at a Russian-French security cooperation council meeting on Tuesday.
"But no decision was made," Lavrov said.
However, he said the countries were both of the opinion that new schemes to resolve the issue were the way forward, commenting that, "Innovative approaches (to the problem) should be sought."
Under the new sanctions, the accounts of certain Iranian companies and banks will be frozen, and goods leaving and entering the Islamic Republic will be subjected to inspections.
In addition, travel bans have been imposed on five Iranian officials involved in nuclear projects.
Two previous rounds of UN sanctions were imposed on Tehran in December 2006 and March 2007.
The decision by the UN Security Council to impose a new round of sanctions came despite a report by the US intelligence community late last year verifying peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program.