US President George W. Bush on Tuesday renewed sanctions barring US trade and investment in Iran as Washington warned Moscow that possible arms sales to Tehran could have "serious ramifications" for US-Russian ties, reported AFP.
"The actions and policies of the Government of Iran continue to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States," Bush said in a statement on the sanctions, which would have expired Thursday.
Iranian President Mohammad Khatami arrived in Moscow on Monday for a four-day visit with a shopping list for Russian weaponry.
Khatami and Russian President Vladimir Putin also agreed to complete construction of a controversial nuclear power plant in Iran and presented a united front against a US-backed oil pipeline bypassing Russia.
“Iran supports international terrorism, aims to undermine the Middle East peace process, and is working to acquire weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them,” he said.
The sanctions, imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, mainly affect US petroleum companies, barring them from investing in Iran's energy sector.
Neither Putin nor Khatami made any direct reference to the United States in their remarks, according to the Washington Post newspaper.
The Russia-Iran pact, Khatami said, "is not only not directed against any third country, it is first and foremost directed at stabilization, calm and stability in the sensitive region where we live."
But a top Russian official made clear that the Russians are determined to proceed regardless of American qualms, said the paper.
"Some may like this cooperation, some may not, this is not our business," Col. Gen. Leonid Ivashov, head of the international cooperation department of the Defense Ministry, told reporters here.
As much as global strategy, economic considerations have driven the enhanced Russia-Iran relationship; trade between the two countries is now a relatively small $900 million a year.
"Cooperation with Iran is all about making money," Sergei Karaganov, a foreign policy analyst, said in an interview published today.
The new arms trade could reach about $300 million a year and up to $2 billion over five years, according to Russian officials and military experts, which would make Iran Russia's third-largest arms customer after China and India.
Washington fears the new relationship, coupled with Putin's adamant defense of Russia's decision to scrap an agreement with the United States barring arms sales to Iran, will help Tehran develop nuclear weapons, said AFP.
At the State Department, spokesman Richard Boucher said Washington was still not clear about what type of weapons and other sensitive technology Putin was referring to when he said Russia was prepared to help Iran with "defensive weapons," AFP quoted him as saying.
But he told reporters that any Russian sale to Iran of advanced conventional weapons, missiles or missile technology would draw a strong US response.
"The first important thing is to find out what they mean by 'defensive' weapons, what they intend to sell, and whether they have any contracts," said the spokesman.
Iranian state radio, meanwhile, said the Bush administration would "gain nothing" but a "deepening of the chasm" between Tehran and Washington, who have had frosty relations since Iran's 1979 revolution, said AFP – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
