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Iran: Another Official Denies Pause in Russian Aid Contrary to reports from U.S. and British officials, Russia will not discontinue its nuclear assistance to Iran, a Russian spokesman said yesterday (see GSN, June 5). U.S. officials and British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to stop nuclear assistance to Iran until Tehran agreed to tougher nuclear inspections. However, Putin never promised to discontinue the assistance, according to Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko. A leading Russian lawmaker visited Washington this week and questioned U.S. claims that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, the Washington Times reported today. “Your CIA said there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. We never thought so in Russia, and so far nothing has been found,” said Dmitry Rogozin, the chairman of the Russian Duma’s committee on international affairs. “Now the CIA makes the same claim for Iran. How on earth can we give them our trust one more time when they just made such a mistake?” he asked. Rogozin said that Russia genuinely believes that they are not aiding Tehran’s alleged nuclear weapons ambitions. “We are not so insane as to set up a time bomb under our own chairs,” he said. Yakovenko said Russia will continue to seek an agreement to require Iran to return spent nuclear fuel to Russia. Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency reported this week that Gholamreza Aqazadeh, the top Iranian nuclear official, is scheduled to travel to Moscow next month to finalize the completion of the Bushehr nuclear plant, now under construction with Russian assistance. U.S. officials continue to allege that Iran is developing a clandestine nuclear weapons program, according to the Times. “The conclusion is inescapable that Iran is pursuing its ‘civil’ nuclear energy program not for peaceful and economic purposes but as a front for developing the capability to produce nuclear materials for nuclear weapons,” said U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton. Rogozin, however, was perplexed by the U.S. stance. “We genuinely do not understand what the Americans want from us,” he said (David Sands, Washington Times, June 6).
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