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| Putin to visit Iran for nuclear talks: report |
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.jpg) TEHRAN – Russian President Vladimir Putin is to visit Iran in August to try and restart talks on Tehran’s nuclear program, Russia’s Kommersant daily reported on Wednesday, according to AFP.
Putin’s visit is planned for mid-August, shortly after Iran’s new President Hassan Rohani formally takes office on August 3, Kommersant reported, citing sources in the Kremlin and the Iranian Foreign Ministry.
It will be Putin’s first trip to Iran since 2007.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told AFP, “I cannot so far confirm this”.
And Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Araqchi told the Tasnim News Agency on Wednesday that he could not confirm the report.
Moscow hopes the visit will provide impetus to restart the currently stalled talks on Iran’s nuclear program, the newspaper cited sources as saying.
Kommersant cited a source in the Iranian Foreign Ministry as saying that the trip would take place August 12-13. It said a Kremlin source confirmed the trip, but said it was not yet decided whether it would last one or two days.
Western powers have expressed cautious hopes for a change in tone in talks after the June election of Rohani, a centrist cleric who has vowed to engage constructively with the international community and to ease tensions raised by Tehran’s nuclear program.
Iran is accused by the West and Israel of seeking to produce nuclear weapons under the guise of a civilian atomic program, while Iran insists it is entirely for peaceful purposes.
It is under international sanctions over its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment.
Russia is a member of the so-called P5+1 group that has been negotiating with Iran over the program and which is made up of the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany.
According to Reuters, Kommersant also cited a defense industry source as saying Putin could discuss an offer to replace frozen shipments of S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems to Tehran with deliveries of Antey-2500 anti-ballistic missiles, an upgrade of the S-300s.
Russia scrapped an S-300 sale to Iran in 2010 after it came under Western pressure not to complete the deal because of the sanctions.
EP/PA
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