TEHRAN, Iran — Russian President Vladimir Putin was scheduled to arrive in the Iranian capital today amid a swirl of speculation about whether Moscow will follow or reject Western plans to pressure Iran over its nuclear program.
Putin and an entourage were due to arrive for a summit of the leaders of the five states bordering the Caspian Sea. His visit would be the first to Iran by a Russian head of state since 1943, when Josef Stalin, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt met here to map World War II strategy.
Hours after Putin left Germany, Iranian officials said the Russian president would arrive in Tehran as head of a delegation early today instead of Monday evening as scheduled, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency.
The reason for the delay and Putin’s whereabouts were unknown. Russian news agencies quoted unnamed officials warning of terrorist plots to assassinate Putin once he arrived in Tehran.
Days ago, Putin publicly rebuffed a visiting delegation of U.S. officials, including Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who pressed the Russian to embrace American plans to build a missile-defense system to counter Iran.
But U.S. officials said Putin sounded more flexible in private conversations and hinted that they were pleased with the message they expected the Russian leader to deliver to the Iranians.
Putin, speaking to reporters Monday in Wiesbaden, Germany, at the close of meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said that “Iran’s nuclear program will be discussed in talks with the Iranian leadership.”
The U.S. and France are spearheading an effort to impose a third round of United Nations Security Council sanctions on Iran over its uranium enrichment program. Russia and China, which hold veto power on the council, appear opposed to immediate sanctions.
The United State alone cannot force Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday. Gates called Iran as “an ambitious and fanatical theocracy.”
“With a government of that nature, only a united front of nations will be able to exert enough pressure to make Iran abandon its nuclear aspirations — a source of great anxiety and instability in the region,” Gates said.
Despite U.S. opposition, Russia continues to build and operate a light-water nuclear power plant in the southern Iranian city of Bushehr. Iran accuses Russia of reneging on a deal to supply the plant with nuclear fuel.
Moscow says Tehran hasn’t paid its bills, but analysts believe Russia is holding back on completing the project for fear of alienating the West.
The delays have prompted anger from some conservative circles in Iran. The hard-right Jomhouri Islami daily accused Moscow of “paving the way for the plans of neocolonialism in the heart of the Islamic world” by remaining silent or acquiescing to U.S.-led pressure on Iran.
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