| 13 October 2009 |
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her Russian counterpart are both urging Iran to cooperate with the international community over its nuclear program.
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| Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (R), and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton meet in Moscow, Russia, 13 Oct 2009 |
Lavrov says imposing sanctions against Tehran at this stage would be "counterproductive." Clinton said the U.S. is not seeking further sanctions at this stage. She also praised Russia for being "extremely cooperative" in the effort to convince Iran to prove it is not seeking to build nuclear weapons.
A senior State Department official said Monday that Clinton would push the Russians to say what specific pressure they would be prepared to use when they join the United States and its allies in confronting Iran.
Six world powers, including the U.S. and Russia, have been holding talks with Iran about its nuclear program.
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev said last month that sanctions are sometimes inevitable.
Iran agreed two weeks ago to let international inspectors visit a uranium enrichment site. But Clinton said Sunday the world will not wait indefinitely for it to prove it is not building a bomb.
Meanwhile, Clinton and Lavrov also said they had made significant progress on a new nuclear arms reduction treaty to replace the current START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) agreement that expires in early December.
Clinton also plans to meet with Mr. Medvedev later Tuesday. In addition to Iran and nuclear disarmament, she is also expected to discuss Afghanistan and President Barack Obama's new missile defense plans
Mr. Obama's announcement that he is scrapping Bush administration plans to build a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic pleased Russia, which called such a system a threat to its security. The Kremlin has expressed interest in working with Washington on new missile defense plans.
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