Russia opposes new Iran sanctions over IAEA report

[Cali_Democrat]

Russia opposes new Iran sanctions over IAEA report
By Steve Gutterman
MOSCOW | Wed Nov 9, 2011 1:29pm EST

(Reuters) - Russia on Wednesday vehemently criticized a U.N. nuclear watchdog report saying Iran appeared to have worked on designing an atom bomb, saying it contained no new evidence and was being used to undercut efforts to reach a diplomatic solution.

Sharpening opposition to any new sanctions against Iran in the U.N. Security Council, where Russia has veto power, senior diplomats said further punitive measures would be "destructive" and urged a revival of talks between Tehran and global powers.

The Russian remarks came during a visit by a senior Iranian official for talks on the program which Tehran says is peaceful but the United States and its allies fear is aimed at developing the capability to build atomic weapons.

<snip>
"According to our initial evaluations, there is no fundamentally new information in the report," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "We are talking about a compilation of known facts, given a politicized tone," it said, adding that interpretations of the report brought to mind the use of faulty intelligence to seek support for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/09/us-nuclear-iran-russia-idUSTRE7A857620111109

This is excellent news. Hopefully the Russians can prevent another disastrous war in the Middle East.

[oberliner]

1. Yes, the Russians are renowned for preventing disastrous wars in the Middle East

If only the world could follow in Russia's peace-promoting footsteps.

[vminfla]

2. Funny, maybe they should look at their shipping logs

Then again, any evidence against one of their best customers would not be good for ongoing, repeat business.

[bemildred]

3. China backs Russia on Iran's nuclear program

China's Foreign Ministry joined Russia Thursday in warning Western countries that additional pressure on Iran would not solve the nuclear stand-off.

Beijing reacted to a new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which said this week that there are many concrete indications that Iran worked towards developing a nuclear weapon.

Several Western powers including France have raised the possibility of new sanctions, should Iran not start answering the IAEA's questions on this topic.

"We, as always, believe that dialogue and cooperation are the only effective approaches for properly resolving the Iran nuclear issue," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/china-backs-russia-on-iran-s-nuclear-program-1.394820

[bemildred]

4. Nuclear experts divided on Iran bomb in wake of damning IAEA report

For the satellite stuff further down.

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Israel's satellite battle

Just when ties with Turkey seem to be recovering, a new crisis is emerging on the horizon: Israel's repeated attempts to prevent Western companies from selling Turkey and other countries satellites that would provide high-resolution images.

The Turkish defense ministry signed a contract in 2009 with the joint Italian-French venture Telespazio to produce the Gokturk-1 satellite.

Construction is almost complete and with the launch scheduled for 2013. The military optical satellite has a resolution of 0.8 meters.

Jerusalem fears the satellite will be used to photograph military and strategic sites in Israel and that Turkey would pass on the high resolution photographs to Israel's enemies, including Iran and Syria (despite recent tension between Damascus and Ankara ), or even to Hamas - all of which still lack such capacity.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/nuclear-experts-divided-on-iran-bomb-in-wake-of-damning-iaea-report-1.394705