The United States and Russia sparred Wednesday over Moscow's plans to sell arms to Iran during President Mohammed Khatami’s landmark visit to Moscow, said reports.
After 48 hours of rising rhetoric over possible weapons deals, top officials from Washington and Moscow met face-to-face as Powell and US national security advisor, Condoleezza Rice, held talks in Washington with Rice's Russian counterpart, Sergei Ivanov, said AFP.
Powell, in testimony to Congress ahead of his meeting with Ivanov, warned that sales of advanced weapons to Iran would be a bad investment for Russia and would end up costing Moscow more than it would earn in supplying Tehran with such arms.
"If the kinds of sales that they are undertaking are destabilizing to the region I think we have to speak out against them and show them that they will pay a greater cost in the long run for investing in this kind of a relationship," Powell said.
At the same time, the secretary said US policy toward Russia should resemble that of its stance toward the former Soviet Union in the late 1980s when Washington sought to convince Moscow democratic reform and open markets were preferable to communism, AFP reported.
"In some ways, the approach to Russia, it seems to me, shouldn't be terribly different to the very realistic approach we had to the old Soviet Union in the late '80s," Powell told a Senate committee.
"We should be realistic and keep encouraging them to move in the direction of solid democracy," he said, adding that Washington would continue efforts to promote free markets in Russia.
According to the agency, both Rice and Powell discussed with Ivanov a wide range of issues, but the main topic of the day was clearly rising US concern over arms proliferation sparked by Russia's announcement Monday that it would boost military and nuclear cooperation with Iran.
"We have to be concerned when we see suggestions that they may be investing in weapons sales with regimes such as a Iran," Powell said, summing up his message to Ivanov as advice Russia should have learned from its recent past.
Ivanov, however, speaking after his meetings with Powell and Rice, dismissed US concerns about the possible arms sales, saying any deals would be legitimate and include only defensive weaponry.
"There are no arms deals with Iran so far, but we discussed the possible future contracts of conventional weapons being sold by Russia to Iran and they are all legitimate," Ivanov said outside the State Department.
Within the same context, Khatami said Wednesday that Tehran and Moscow were building stronger military ties to stabilize regional security but had no intention of threatening Western states, according to Russia Times newspaper.
Telling a session of Russia's State Duma lower house of parliament that Iran wanted to move away from Cold War-era diplomacy, Khatami appeared to be responding directly to US concern over his ongoing Moscow visit.
"The modern world has not been able to rid itself of the difficult atmosphere of Cold War mentality, expansionist politics and double standards," Khatami said.
"But we can build a united world filled with understanding, dialogue, and peace," Khatami added during his 30-minute speech that came on the third day of a four-day tour of Russia, said the paper.
"Today, the Islamic republic of Iran thinks it is inevitable to hold dialogue and to be cooperative with all nations," said Khatami – Albawaba.com
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