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View Full Version : Iran seeks Chinese, Russian support



sonz
06-15-2006, 06:38 PM
Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is attending an Asian security summit in Shanghai, renewing the focus on the role China and Russia play in resolving the global standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program, according to AFP.

Ahmadinejad is only a guest at Thursday's summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which groups China, Russia, and four Central Asian state. The Islamic Republic is an observer nation along with Pakistan, India and Mongolia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf and the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and Uzbekistan all arrived in Shanghai for the meeting.

But the focus was expected to be on Ahmadinejad more than anyone else, with the Iranian President due to hold his first meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao on Friday following the summit. He is also expected to meet President Vladimir Putin for the first time since their meeting at the United Nations last year.

Ahmadinejad’s meetings with Hu and Putin come at a critical time in the standoff over Iran’s nuclear program, with Tehran considering a new package of incentives offered last week by the UN’s five permanent members plus Germany in exchange for it suspending uranium enrichment.

Moscow and Beijing support the incentive package. But the two permanent UN members – also old allies and trading partners of Iran – oppose the threat of military action or imposition of sanctions against Tehran, options Washington could seek if Iran refused the offer.

Tehran accepted some parts of the package, but insisted that others should be removed. It also says that the key issue of uranium enrichment remains unclear and needs further explanation. Iran strongly rejects demands it scrap its enrichment program and has been highly reluctant to suspend it.

Analysts say that Tehran could seek changes in the package, hoping to keep Russian and Chinese implicit protection.

"Iran is taking its own time (in responding) to get Russia and China to modify the Western pressures on Tehran," said political analyst Davoud Hermidas Bavand.

Ahmadinejad will likely urge Moscow and Beijing to "follow their independent policy and don't go the U.S. way," said analyst Mostafa Kavakebian.

Kavakebian added that the Iranian leader will try to seek a compromise that will guarantee Tehran’s right to enrich uranium and at the same time ensures that its nuclear program won't be diverted toward weapons.

By attending the Shanghai summit, Ahmadinejad also proves that the Islamic Republic isn’t isolated, despite Washington’s claims to the contrary.

"We are redefining our relations with the world," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told a TV program last week. "We are managing our relations with other countries based on our national interests and the way we are treated (over the nuclear dispute)."

Tehran has said it would offer huge economic projects to countries that back its nuclear program and punish those who vote against it.

Ahmadinejad's participation in the Shanghai summit irritates the United States, which views the body as an attempted counterweight against Western influence in Central Asia and the presence of U.S. bases there.

Last week, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld criticized China and Russia for backing Tehran's participation in the summit, saying he found it strange to bring the "leading terrorist nation in the world into an organization that says it's against terror."

But China dismissed the criticism. "We cannot abide by other countries calling our observer nations sponsors of terror," Shanghai Cooperation Organization chief Zhang Deguang said.
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