Clinton, Russia at odds over Iranian nuclear plant
No agreement yet on arms treaty
Visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday criticised Russia's plans to start up a nuclear power station in Iran, describing them as premature given uncertainty about Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
As Mrs Clinton was entering a meeting in Moscow with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced in a provincial city that Russia would start up the nuclear reactor it is building at Iran's Bushehr plant in the summer.
Asked at a subsequent news conference about Mr Putin's announcement, a stern-looking Mrs Clinton responded that if Iran reassured the world that it was not pursuing nuclear weapons, then it could pursue civil nuclear power.
"In the absence of those reassurances, we think it would be premature to go forward with any project at this time because we want to send an unequivocal message to the Iranians," she said.
The US is leading a drive to impose a fourth round of United Nations Security Council sanctions on Iran to persuade it to abandon its suspected pursuit of nuclear weapons. Tehran denies any such intention.
Mr Lavrov defended Russia's nuclear cooperation with Iran, whose programme is monitored by the UN' s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
"Bushehr plays a special role in maintaining the IAEA's presence in Iran, in ensuring that Iran is complying with its non-proliferation obligations," Mr Lavrov said.
Russia agreed to build the 1,000-megawatt reactor at Bushehr 15 years ago but delays have haunted the $1 billion project and diplomats say Moscow has used it as a lever in relations with Tehran. It will be Iran's first nuclear power plant.
The disagreement overshadowed the major goals of Mrs Clinton's visit - to seek Moscow's backing for tougher sanctions against Iran and to clear obstacles to a US-Russian agreement cutting both sides' nuclear arsenals.
Mrs Clinton is keen to produce results from the drive to improve relations with Russia which began when she presented Mr Lavrov in March 2009 with a red button labelled "Reset", symbolising hopes of a fresh start.
Mrs Clinton said both sides expected to sign the nuclear arms pact soon but conceded that negotiators had still not quite finished their work on a new treaty.