Russia warns Iran it won't 'exclude' new sanctions

Russia warned Iran on Tuesday to allay growing international fears over its contentious nuclear program, declaring that the Western push for fresh and harsh sanctions could not be excluded.
The Kremlin's message was issued as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Moscow this week to shore up Russian support for a new round of sanctions.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Tuesday, after meeting his Turkish counterpart that Tehran was prepared to consider any new ideas on a proposed nuclear fuel swap with major powers.
But there was no immediate sign that the visit of Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had produced any breakthrough in Iran's long-running nuclear standoff with the West.
Davutoglu, who arrived late on Monday to try to salvage a UN-brokered uranium swap deal as calls grow for new sanctions against Iran, was expected to meet President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad later on Tuesday.
Turkey, which has strengthened its ties with Iran since the Islamist-rooted AK Party took power, has offered to use its access to the Iranian leadership to help solve a dispute between global powers and Tehran over its nuclear program. Washington and its allies fear Iran wants to acquire nuclear weapons, and are lobbying for new United Nations sanctions, but Tehran says its aims are purely peaceful.
Mottaki described the talks with Davutoglu as consultations, rather than any mediation between Tehran and the world powers involved in efforts to resolve the nuclear row diplomatically.
"We have informed our Turkish friends about the latest developments on Iran's peaceful nuclear case," Mottaki told a joint news conference with Davutoglu.
Ahmadinejad's order last week to start production of higher-grade uranium, rather than agree to the UN-brokered fuel swap proposal, exposes Tehran to new calls for UN sanctions from Western powers.
Mottaki, echoing comments by Iran's nuclear agency chief on Monday, said the United States, France and Russia had submitted a new letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA]. The letter contained a new proposal, Mottaki said. "While we are continuing our [nuclear] activities we will consider any new idea or proposal, either given directly or indirectly via the agency [IAEA]," he said, giving no details.The United States denied on Monday that it had made new proposals along with France and Russia on the nuclear fuel swap, and said "the door remains open" for Tehran to accept the proposal offered in October. France also dismissed the report, saying the existing deal was the only valid offer. Russia said the countries had simply confirmed their support for a proposal brokered by the IAEA last year to send much of Iran's low enriched uranium abroad.Iran wants any such swap, under which Iran would receive higher-grade fuel for a medical reactor, to be simultaneous.
Turkey has offered itself as a third country where the uranium could be exchanged, but Davutoglu did not specifically address the nuclear issue at Tuesday's news conference.
"The relationship between Turkey and Iran has a great potential. We want to make use of this potential and we aim to increase the trade volume between the two countries to $30 billion," he said.

Netanyahu: If Iran goes nuclear, so will the whole Muslim world

Meanwhile, Netanyahu warned his Greek counterpart in an impromptu meeting on Monday evening that if Iran managed to develop nuclear weapons, the rest of the Muslim world would follow suit.
Netanyahu met George Papandreou while they two were dining separately at the Pushkin restaurant in Moscow, where the prime minister arrived earlier this week for talks with Russian officials about Iran's contentious nuclear program.
Papandreou recognized Netanyahu and asked if he could join the prime minister's entourage for the evening. The two began by discussing the economic crisis in Greece, but the conversation quickly turned to Israel's efforts to impose harsher sanctions on Iran.
According to an official traveling with the prime minister, Netanyahu told Papandreou that he was concerned Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia would soon begin their own attempts to develop a nuclear weapon should Iran accomplish its own goal.
Such widespread nuclear development would have negative implications on the whole world, Netanyahu warned, and reiterated that nothing less than harsh sanctions could prevent this phenomenon.

Iran hit back at the United States earlier Tuesday for saying the Islamic state was moving toward a military dictatorship, accusing Washington of pursuing wrong policies in the Middle East.
"They themselves are involved in a sort of military dictatorship and have practically ignored the realities and the truths in the region," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said, according to ISNA news agency.
"America has a wrong attitude towards the issues in the Middle East and it is the continuation of their past wrong policies," he said
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Monday the United States believes Iran's Revolutionary Guards are driving the country towards military dictatorship and should be targeted in any new UN sanctions.
"We are sorry for Mrs. Clinton...for trying to divert public opinion in the region towards unreal and untruthful matters," Mottaki said.
Speaking in Qatar before flying to Riyadh, Clinton denied the United States planned to attack Iran and said Washington wanted dialogue with Tehran but could not "stand idly by" while Iran pursued a suspected nuclear weapons program.
Clinton said Washington hoped to pressure Iran through a UN Security Council resolution targeting the Revolutionary Guards, who she accused of usurping the government.
"We see that the government of Iran, the supreme leader, the president, the parliament, is being supplanted and that Iran is moving toward a military dictatorship," she told students in Doha.
The United States is leading a push for the UN Security Council to impose a fourth round of sanctions on Iran, which says its nuclear program is solely to generate electricity so it can export more of its oil and gas. Clinton was in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday as part of a regional visit aimed at gathering Arab support for fresh sanctions.