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Iran faces `war': Moscow reports

The use of military force to quash Iran's nuclear plans appeared more likely after a UN agency resolution on the issue and amid Tehran's continued resistance to a Russian compromise solution, Russian media said yesterday.

"The US prepares for a new war -- and Iran for a clash of civilizations," was the headline in Russia's Vremya Novostei newspaper yesterday, reporting a number of belligerent statements towards Iran made by US politicians.

The Gazeta newspaper reacted in similar fashion to the weekend resolution by the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to report Iran to the UN Security Council.

"Iran = Iraq?" ran the newspaper's top headline. "The situation is reminiscent of the situation before the start of the military campaign in Iraq," Gazeta said, alluding to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Another Russian newspaper, Nezavisimaya, referred to comments by US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld at a weekend security conference in Munich, interpreting them as hinting "at military means to solve the Iranian nuclear problem".

Such reports reflected wider Russian concerns about the Middle East, amid extensive coverage of the unrest prompted by cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed published in some European newspapers.

Russian newspapers noted however that Iran had still not ruled out a compromise proposed by Russia that has won some Western support: to establish a joint venture that would enrich uranium on Russian territory for use by Iran in a civilian nuclear energy program.

The Kommersant daily noted that the IAEA resolution "quite possibly has a military trajectory," but breathed a sigh of relief that it had taken "only a day to cool the hot heads" -- referring to Iran's angry reaction to the resolution.

After initial angry outbursts, Iran's leadership had voiced readiness to pursue talks on the Russian compromise proposal during a visit by Iranian officials to Moscow on Jan. 16, Kommersant noted.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov reflected widespread concern in Russia about potential US military action, when he addressed the Munich Conference on Security Policy on Sunday.

"Russia still believes that as long as possible it's better to keep the matter in the International Atomic Energy Agency's hands," said Ivanov, seen as one of the most influential figures in President Vladimir Putin's leadership.

But Ivanov also urged Tehran to rapidly address the West's suspicions that Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb.

"We expect unequivocal answers" from Iran, Ivanov said. "It is not in our interests to wait for the deterioration of the situation in an already explosive region."

The Russian proposal would see enrichment -- to produce reactor fuel which can also form the core of a nuclear weapon -- carried out in Russia and then shipped back to Iran.

The US and some Western powers suspect Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb, but Tehran insists it is setting up a peaceful atomic energy program.

In the IAEA vote in Vienna, 27 countries including the Security Council's permanent five -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the US -- voted in favor of reporting Iran to the council, and five abstained.
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