US President Barack Obama yesterday won the strongest backing yet from Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev on the Iranian nuclear crisis, as the US leader warned that Tehran was “running out of time.”
Obama expressed frustration with Iran’s failure to give an answer three weeks after it received a UN-brokered offer to defuse the standoff, while Medvedev suggested that even Russian patience was now wearing thin.
“Unfortunately, so far at least, Iran has been unable to say yes [to the proposal],” Obama said after talks with Medvedev at the APEC summit in Singapore. “We now are running out of time with respect to that approach.”
Russia, which has the strongest ties with Tehran of any big power, has traditionally been unwilling to punish Iran with tough measures, but Medvedev said that Tehran risked sanctions if the crisis continued.
He said Moscow was “not completely happy about the pace” of efforts to resolve the crisis.
“In case we fail, the other options remain on the table, in order to move the process in a different direction,” Medvedev said in a reference to new UN sanctions against Tehran. “As reasonable politicians, we understand that any process should have a final point. The process of talks exists not for the pleasure of talking, but for achieving practical goals.”
Russia, like the US, is a veto-wielding UN Security Council permanent member and its support is crucial if US warnings of tough sanctions against Tehran are to carry weight.
China is another permanent council member and US officials say Iran is likely to figure in Beijing discussions this week between Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤).
Russia also has unmatched leverage as it is building Iran’s first nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr and has an as-yet unfulfilled contract to deliver advanced air defense missiles to Tehran.
Medvedev’s comments were stronger than his most recent statement on the nuclear crisis when he told the German magazine Der Spiegel earlier this month that sanctions could not be excluded.
Obama described as “fair” the proposal offered to Iran which would see states — including Russia — help Tehran to further enrich Iranian uranium for delivery to a research reactor.
Referring to sanctions, he said “we will begin to discuss and prepare for these other pathways” as Tehran could not be counted on to fulfill its international obligations.
The US president exchanged a warm handshake with Medvedev at the conclusion of the talks, their fourth meeting since Obama came to power.
“I have found, as always, President Medvedev frank, constructive and thoughtful,” Obama said.
“The reset button has worked,” he said, using an administration slogan used to symbolize the revival of US-Russian ties after years of mutual distrust under former US president George W. Bush.
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