Russia deliver 82 metric tons of fuel to Iran

Sergei Kiriyenko, the director general of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, earlier said Russia will complete fuel supplies to the Bushehr NPP in February.
"In February we will complete the supplies, and actual work with the fuel at the plant will start in July-August," he said.
The first delivery to the plant, being built by Russian contractor Atomstroyexport, came on December 16, 2007 following months of project delays that Moscow attributed to payment arrears, but which Iran blamed on pressure from Western nations.
Under a bilateral intergovernmental contract, Russia is set to deliver a total of 82 metric tons of fuel divided into eight batches. Deliveries are monitored by the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
United States President George W. Bush, who has led international calls for sanctions against Iran over its refusal to freeze its nuclear program, said last month that he supported the start of Russia's enriched uranium deliveries to the Islamic Republic, and that Tehran no longer has any excuse to develop its own enrichment capabilities. read more ...

security alliance on South Korea

U.S. Promise to "Provide Nuclear Umbrella" to South Korea under Fire Pyongyang, January 19 (KCNA) -- The promise given by the United States to "provide a nuclear umbrella and military assistance" to south Korea is a product of its adventurous scenario to invade the DPRK. Rodong Sinmun Saturday observes this in a signed article. Referring to the "joint statement" released at the recent south Korea-U.S. "annual security consultative meeting" held in Seoul, the article goes on: The U.S. promised to return the "right to command the wartime operations" to south Korea till 2012. It is concerned over the fact that the above-said action may weaken its military domination and influence on south Korea. This "promise" was prompted by the U.S. intention to bind the south Korean forces more tightly to the "security alliance" under the pretext of "offering the nuclear umbrella and military assistance" while going ahead with its moves for the "strategic flexibility" of the U.S. forces in south Korea as planned. There is another point that merits attention. The adoption of the historical October 4 declaration created an environment favorable for the development of the inter-Korean relations, peace and prosperity. In case the relations of military confidence are established between the north and the south ... read more

Russia as US target

The United States wants to place a radar station in the Czech Republic and intercepter missiles in Poland, saying the components would defend European allies against a possible Iranian strike.
Gorbachev, 76, whose policies of glasnost and perestroika - openness and restructuring - helped end communism in the Soviet Union and its satellites, criticized the high level of military spending by the United States.
"Does America intend to fight the rest of the world, does America need to build a new empire? They will not succeed," Gorbachev said at the close of a meeting of the World Political Forum, a group he founded in 2003 that includes many former high-ranking politicians.

Gorbachev, who won the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize, said negotiations with Iran needed to continue with the involvement of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, to ensure Iran did not produce nuclear weapons.
Gorbachev said he hoped the United States would not attack Iran during the remainder of the term of U.S. President George W. Bush.
"There still one year that President Bush has on his hands. Let's hope that he will not take the risk... of military action against Iran," Gorbachev said, adding that such an attack "at the very least" could provoke increased terrorist attacks, an energy crisis and "even result in a big war."
Asked about Russian President Vladimir Putin, Gorbachev said that, while he initially had doubts about Putin being able to lead Russia, he now supported him.
"Putin is a very capable person, a wise person, a man of strong character, of few words but with good management skills," Gorbachev said. "Now he is more than just a manager, he has become a credible political leader."
Gorbachev added that he supported the Russian president because Putin's policies were consistent with his own social-democratic positions,
"Putin is pursuing policies that benefit the majority of the Russian people," Gorbachev said.

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said Wednesday that he viewed a U.S. plan to deploy a missile defense shield in Central Europe as targeting Russia, not Iran.
"(On Tuesday) Milos Zeman, the former Czech prime minister, said, ‘What kind of Iran threat do you see? This is a system that is being created against Russia,'" Gorbachev said. "I don't think Zeman is alone in seeing this. We see this as well as he sees it."

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Russia delivered Deadly Missile to Iran

Russia has agreed to sell an S-300 anti-aircraft missile system to Iran, Iran's defense minister was quoted as saying on Wednesday, a report likely to irritate the United States.

S-300 missiles are longer-ranging than the TOR-M1 surface-to-air missiles which Russia, in a deal criticised by the West, earlier this year said it had delivered to the Islamic Republic under a $1 billion contract.

Iran is under U.N. sanctions over its refusal to halt sensitive atomic work that Western powers suspect it wants to master so that it can build nuclear bombs, but they do not ban conventional weapons sales to the country.

"The S-300 system, under a contract signed in the past with Russia, will be delivered to Iran," Defence Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar told Fars News Agency, without giving details.
"The timing of the delivery ... will be announced later," he said. The ISNA news agency carried a similar report.

The United States and Israel - Tehran's arch foes - have said Iran could use the TOR-M1 system to attack its neighbours. Russia says it is a short-range system and purely defensive.

Najjar said last month Iran would never launch an attack against another country but warned that anybody trying to invade Iran would "face a crushing response."

Under Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian arms firms have aggressively pushed sales abroad as the Kremlin seeks to reassert its role as a global power in the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. Russian arms exports were worth a record $7 billion this year, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said Monday. "Since 2000 our arms exports have nearly doubled and in 2006 we hit the record sum of $6.5 billion. This year we have a good chance of passing the seven-billion-dollar mark," RIA Novosti quoted Ivanov as saying.

Russia's drive to boost arms exports have raised tensions with the U.S., which last year imposed sanctions on Russia's state arms trader Rosoboronexport for cooperating with Iran, a move Moscow has called illegal. read more ...