American-Russian alliance. U.S. has no military plans against Iran

U.S. has no military plans against Iran - FM Lavrov

09:39 AM (MSK) February 5, 2007

The United States has no military plans against Iran and Washington agrees to cooperate with Moscow on bringing Iran back to negotiations, the Russian foreign minister said Saturday. Iran has been at the center of international concerns since January 2006 over its nuclear program, which some countries, particularly the United States, suspect is geared toward nuclear weapons development. Tehran has consistently denied the claims, and says it needs nuclear power for civilian purposes.

"The United States assured us [Russia] that it has no plans to wage war against Iran and the presence of supplementary [military] forces in the Persian Gulf region helps to stabilize the situation in the region," Sergei Lavrov said upon his return to Moscow from Washington, where he attended the meeting of the Quartet of Middle East mediators.

The Quartet includes the United Nations, Russia, the European Union and the United States.

The minister said Russia and the U.S. agreed to cooperate on returning Iran back to negotiations for resolving the issue of its controversial nuclear program.

"We have agreed to continue working within the UN Security Council to bring back Iran to the negotiating table using diplomatic measures of influence on Tehran," Lavrov said.

10:37 AM (MSK) February 3, 2012

UN diplomats fail to agree on Syria, leaving talks in limbo

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Putin Concedes He May Not Win in 1st Round

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Russia Joins OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, Bans Bribes Abroad

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Clinton Snubbed by Russian Counterpart

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Russia Says Syria Has Agreed to Talks

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Russia's Syrian Power Play

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Geopolitics

Vladimir Putin's new campaign strategy: Vilify the United States

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Listening to Vladimir Putin trying to salvage his career as his base of support seems to be crumbling around him, the Russian prime minister sounds more and more like all of those Arab dictators just before their own people turned on them in angry revolt.

'Stability is something that can only be achieved through hard work, by being open to change and ready for long-overdue, well-planned and well-calculated reforms,' Putin declared in an online campaign essay this month.

So said Syrian President Bashar Assad almost exactly a year ago, just before his own country dissolved into protest, chaos and slaughter.

Security

Vladimir Putin's new campaign strategy: Vilify the United States

Joel Brinkley

So said Syrian President Bashar Assad almost exactly a year ago, just before his own country dissolved into protest, chaos and slaughter.

Business

Russian GDP: celebrate cautiously

Keyur Patel

High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Russia released a preliminary estimate for 2011 GDP growth on Tuesday - and at 4.3 per cent, it looks pretty healthy. The figure crept ahead of analyst expectations, buoyed by a strong recovery in consumer demand over the year, while 2010 growth was revised upwards, also to 4.3 per cent. Renaissance Capital was cautiously bullish, calling the forecast 'reason for a (modest) celebration'.

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U.S. has no military plans against Iran - FM Lavrov