Russia's Putin says 'too early' for Iran sanctions
Thu Oct 15 04:37:23 EST 2009
Wed Oct 14 17:37:23 UTC 2009
BEIJING, Oct 14 AFP - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said it was "too early" to discuss sanctions against Iran over its disputed nuclear program.
"I believe it's too early to speak of them," Putin told reporters at the end of a visit to Beijing on Wednesday, when asked about the possibility of sanctions against Tehran.
"There is no need to scare the Iranians," the prime minister said.
"There is a need to reach agreements."
However, he warned, that if talks "don't take place or end in a fiasco, we can speak of further steps."
Iran agreed at an October 1 meeting in Geneva to allow United Nations inspectors into a previously secret nuclear site near its holy city of Qom and to send low-enriched uranium abroad for enrichment to a higher level.
The plan to enrich uranium abroad -- which will be discussed further at a meeting in Vienna next Monday -- has been seen as a possible way to defuse the Iranian nuclear standoff.
Putin said the international community needed to exhaust the negotiations route with Iran before considering any other options.
"If now, without making any concrete steps, we were to be announcing some sort of sanctions, then we would not be creating favourable conditions" for further talks and the resolution of the thorny issue, Putin said.
Iran denies that it is trying to acquire nuclear weapons, but the United States, the European Union and Israel fear that it is seeking to build the bomb under the guise of a civilian nuclear energy program.
As a permanent, veto-holding member of the UN Security Council, Russia would need to support new sanctions against Iran for them to be effective.
Russia has the closest ties to Iran of any major world power and has long been opposed to tougher sanctions.
