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Russia gains advantages from concerns over Iran

Is Moscow Playing a Double Game on Iran’s Nukes?

Foreign Policy

BY WILLIAM TOBEY | SEPTEMBER 4, 2009

Why the Russians see Tehran’s atomic ambitions as an opportunity, not just a threat…………
…..the Russians could be playing a double game.With Russia’s grudging support, the United Nations Security Council has passed three rounds of sanctions on Iran, aimed at halting its uranium enrichment program, which Tehran claims is for peaceful purposes, but could be used to make fissile material for weapons. The sanctions, however, have not halted the Iranian enrichment program and show little prospect of doing so soon. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported last February that Iran has produced sufficient low-enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon, if Tehran were to take the additional step of enriching it further. Meanwhile, centrifuges continue to spin at Natanz, and Iran has yet to convince the IAEA that its intentions are peaceful.

Although Moscow talks a good game on Iran’s nuclear program, since Iran’s clandestine uranium enrichment program was first exposed in 2002, Russia has consistently impeded effective action……………. the Iran nuclear issue creates leverage over the United States. Washington has already made clear that the matter is of vital interest — all the better for Moscow to demand rewards for cooperation. Russia got a long-sought civil nuclear cooperation agreement from the George W. Bush administration (though it stalled in Congress over the invasion of Georgia), and is angling to pocket concessions on missile defense and arms control from the Barack Obama administration. The Kremlin may wish to prolong this happy circumstance to extract further gratuities.

Is Moscow Playing a Double Game on Iran’s Nukes? | Foreign Policy

September 5, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1, politics, Russia | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy