Washington's Presence in PG Poses Threat to Both Tehran and Moscow
"Chernomyrdin made a mistake. Our Liberal Democrat Party called for his dismissal and he should be tried," Zhirinovsky, vice-speaker of the Russian State Duma told a Tehran's press conference.
He said that Russia lost lots of profits due to the secret Chernomyrdin-Gore accord. The agreement banned sales of new weapon systems while allowing the Russians to complete sales already contracted for until 1999.
"While Pakistan, India and Israel have atomic weapons and certain other countries are close to achieving such weapons, why not Iran?," he asked.
He blasted the presence of the American forces in the Persian Gulf region, saying, "It is the Persian Gulf and not the U.S. Gulf." Washington poses threats to the interests of both Tehran and Moscow and the policies adopted by the White House would lead to proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, he added.
The Russian official who arrived Tuesday night for a two-day state visit, called on Iran to sign a friendship accord with Russia to halt the eastward expansion of NATO in the region.
He said that Tehran and Moscow could sign an accord like that of the Israel-Turkey-U.S. The three countries have conducted exercises annually for three years, each time drawing sharp criticism from Iran and Arab nations worried by cooperation between the two most powerful armed forces in the Middle East and the world's only superpower.
Last December, Iran and Russia said they had agreed on broad military cooperation and declared that a 1995 Russia-U.S. deal that prevented Moscow from selling conventional arms to Iran was effectively dead.
"It was agreed that a new phase of military and technical cooperation would begin between the two sides," visiting Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev told journalists at a joint news conference with his Iranian counterpart Ali Shamkhani.
The ministers said that the deal made in 1995 between Russia and the United States, in which Russia had agreed not to sell conventional arms to Iran, was no longer a factor.
Sergeyev made a three-day state visit to Tehran last week, the first by a Russian defense minister since the triumph in 1979 of the Islamic Revolution. A high-ranking military delegation was with him.
The United States immediately reacted to Sergeyev's visit by saying it had serious concerns on Russia's plan to sell arms to Iran as they would pose a threat to its interests in the Middle East.
"We are particularly disturbed by Russian press accounts that we've seen today of Defense Minister (Igor) Sergeyev's discussions with the Iranians which suggest that Russia is ready to sell Iran missiles, submarines and other equipment," State Department spokesman Philip Reeker told a news briefing.
Russia was more blunt in its response to U.S. concerns by saying that a 1995 Russia-U.S. deal that prevented Moscow from selling Iran conventional arms had long been abandoned.
Zhirinovsky said Russia holds the same view as Iran on the Middle East situation, noting that Russia can call a halt to Israel expansionist policies.
On Wednesday, Zhirinovsky called for strengthened Tehran-Moscow cooperation over the oil-rich Caspian Sea's legal status.
"Iranian-Russian cooperation plays an important role in defining the Caspian Sea's legal regime," Zhirinovsky said during talks with Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Ahani.
Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan are the five countries bordering the Caspian Sea.
The Islamic Republic has repeatedly indicated that it will agree to an equitable sharing of the oil-rich Caspian Sea which would give it a 20 percent share.
The Caspian Sea is estimated to contain the world's third largest reserves of oil and gas after the Persian Gulf and Siberia.
Iranian President Mohammad Khatami is due to start a two-day official visit to Moscow on March 19. He and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are likely to reach an agreement on how to divide the oil-rich Caspian Sea among the five littoral states.
Meanwhile, ITAR-TASS quoted visiting Russian ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky saying on Friday that Iran and Russia would have cooperation on anti-drug plans.
"Talks with officials of Iran's Interior Ministry Anti-Drug Department were successful," the agency cited Zhirinovsky as saying at the end of his visit to Tehran.
"We discussed ways to expand bilateral cooperation. We are losing billions, hundreds of millions of dollars. We have an opportunity to get a direct profit, a huge profit here. Our future is in the East. We have played off the West variant," Zhirinovsky said.
Large drug hauls and clashes with traffickers frequently happen in Iran, which sits on a major route for smuggling drugs from Afghanistan and Pakistan to the markets of the Persian Gulf and beyond.
Zhirinovsky, vice speaker of the Russian State Duma arrived in Tehran Thursday night for a two-day state visit.