Israel warns Russia, MOSCOW — Russia warned Israel and the West on Wednesday against
launching military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities but suggested
Tehran should be quicker to cooperate over inspections of its nuclear
sites.
Speaking at his annual news conference, Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov mixed words of caution over isolating Iran or
attacking it with a gentle nudge to Tehran over the inspections by the
International Atomic Energy Agency."Attempts to prepare and
implement strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities and on its
infrastructure as a whole are a very, very dangerous idea. We hope these
ideas will not come to fruition," Lavrov said.
Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hinted strongly at possible military
action to stop Iran from developing an atomic bomb. In an election
victory speech on Wednesday, he said preventing Iran from obtaining
nuclear weapons would be the main challenge for a new government.
Referring
to talks in which the IAEA has been trying to negotiate an agreement
for inspectors to gain access to sites, officials and documents, Lavrov
said: "The Iranians have said they want this document to be agreed in
full. We think our Iranian colleagues could do this a little bit
faster."
Speaking of separate negotiations between Iran and six
world powers that are trying to ensure it does not pursue a nuclear
weapons program, Lavrov said he was confident a new round of talks would
be held but said a venue had not yet been agreed.
Iran denies it is trying to develop a nuclear arsenal and says its nuclear program has only peaceful purposes.
