SINGAPORE (Al Arabiya, Agencies)
United States President Barack Obama arrived in Singapore on Saturday ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum where he was set to meet Russia's president to secure backing to break the stand-off over Iran's nuclear ambitions, which Turkey also said it could help with.
Obama will want to hear from Russian President Dmitry Medvedev whether the Kremlin detects any signs of Tehran moderating its defiance and whether Russia will back tough sanctions if diplomacy fails.
" We will continue the very constructive and ongoing series of meetings that the president has had with President Medvedev " US administration advisor But in their fourth meeting since April, Medvedev will also be seeking assurances from Obama that Russian concerns will be addressed in a new nuclear weapons reduction treaty that both sides are racing to agree by December.
Russia has the strongest ties with Iran of any major power, and its capacity to provide technical help for the Iranian nuclear drive is seen by some analysts as giving it an unmatched power of leverage in Tehran.
Medvedev's chief foreign policy aide Sergei Prikhodko confirmed that the Iranian nuclear question would be discussed at the meeting on the sidelines of APEC in Singapore.
An Obama administration official said that aside from Iran and the nuclear arms treaty, the two leaders would also dwell on North Korea's own nuclear quest.
"We will continue the very constructive and ongoing series of meetings that the president has had with President Medvedev," said Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security advisor for strategic communications.
Obama and Medvedev are scheduled to meet on the margins of APEC on Sunday afternoon, shortly before the U.S. president leaves Singapore for a state visit to China.
Obama is also likely to bring up Iran and North Korea with Chinese President Hu Jintao in the coming week in Beijing.
China and Russia, both permanent U.N. Security Council members, have been skeptical about ratcheting up sanctions on Iran.
But there is mounting impatience in the West, with world powers still waiting for Tehran to respond to an offer brokered by the U.N. nuclear watchdog which would see states including Russia help Iran enrich uranium.
The West suspects Tehran is trying to develop a nuclear weapon under cover of its civilian nuclear energy program.
Like Iran, Russia has said there is no evidence to support these accusations. But it has also urged Tehran to show maximum transparency and cooperate with the international community.
The Russian daily Kommersant, which is known for its contacts on foreign policy issues, said Saturday that Kremlin sources were now speaking of a "100 percent" readiness on the part of Moscow to back sanctions.
But it said the last word rested with Obama and Medvedev. |
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Defense missiles to Tehran " I do not want that all this ends up with the adopting of international sanctions because sanctions, as a rule, lead in a complex and dangerous direction " Russian president Russia has also still failed to fulfill a contract to deliver sophisticated S-300 air defense missiles to Tehran, a deal vehemently opposed by the United States. Iran on Friday complained Moscow was now six months late on delivery.
Medvedev has given carefully worded statements hinting that tougher sanctions cannot be ruled out, while warning of the consequences.
"I do not want that all this ends up with the adopting of international sanctions because sanctions, as a rule, lead in a complex and dangerous direction," he told the German magazine Der Spiegel earlier this month.
Medvedev is meanwhile set to press Obama about a new nuclear weapons reduction agreement to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).
With the old treaty due to run out on December 5, Russian officials have insisted that the new agreement must establish a link between missile defense systems and strategic arms.
Obama's move to scrap missile shield plans in eastern Europe appeared to have lent fresh impetus to the negotiations.
But there remain reported differences on limits to the number of "carriers" that can deliver warheads such as ground-based ballistic missiles, submarines and heavy bombers. |
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Turkey's proposal " There is no problem on the Turkish side with storing low-grade uranium in Turkey. We cannot say no " Turkish energy minister Meanwhile Turkey said it was ready to store Iran's enriched uranium stockpile as part of a draft deal to help quell international concern over the Islamic Republic's nuclear activities, media quoted Energy Minister Taner Yildiz as saying.
"There is no problem on the Turkish side with storing low-grade uranium in Turkey... We cannot say no," Yildiz was quoted as telling reporters Friday.
There has so far been no such official request, the minister underlined, adding that the issue was being discussed.
Earlier this week, the New York Times reported that the U.S. administration had told Iran that it is willing to allow the country to send its uranium stockpile to any of several nations, including Turkey, for safekeeping.
Citing unnamed administration officials and diplomats, the newspaper said the overtures had been made through the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), with the agency's General director Mohamed ElBaradei, acting as the intermediary. |
