Putin Visits Iran, Sends Warnings to US*

Oct 16, 7:10 AM (ET)

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Russian leader Vladimir Putin met his Iranian
counterpart Tuesday and implicitly warned the U.S. not to use a former
Soviet republic to stage an attack on Iran. He also said nations
shouldn't pursue oil pipeline projects in the area if they weren't
backed by regional powers.

At a summit of the five nations that border the inland Caspian Sea,
Putin said none of the nations' territory should be used by any outside
countries for use of military force against any nation in the region. It
was a clear reference to long-standing rumors that the U.S. was planning
to use Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic, as a staging ground for any
possible military action against Iran.

"We are saying that no Caspian nation should offer its territory to
third powers for use of force or military aggression against any Caspian
state," Putin said.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also underlined the need to keep
outsiders away from the Caspian.

"All Caspian nations agree on the main issue - that all aspects related
to this sea must be settled exclusively by littoral nations," he said.
"The Caspian Sea is an inland sea and it only belongs to the Caspian
states, therefore only they are entitled to have their ships and
military forces here."

Putin, whose trip to Tehran is the first by a Kremlin leader since World
War II, warned that energy pipeline projects crossing the Caspian could
only be implemented if all five nations that border the Caspian support
them.

Putin did not name any specific country, but his statement underlined
Moscow's strong opposition to U.S.-backed efforts to build pipelines to
deliver hydrocarbons to the West bypassing Russia.

"Projects that may inflict serious environmental damage to the region
cannot be implemented without prior discussion by all five Caspian
nations," he said.

Other nations bordering the Caspian Sea and in attendance at the summit
are: Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan.

The legal status of the Caspian - believed to contain the world's
third-largest energy reserves - has been in limbo since the 1991 Soviet
collapse, leading to tension and conflicting claims to seabed oil deposits.

Iran, which shared the Caspian's resources equally with the Soviet
Union, insists that each coastal nation receive an equal portion of the
seabed. Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan want the division based on the
length of each nation's shoreline, which would give Iran a smaller share.

Putin's visit took place despite warnings of a possible assassination
plot and amid hopes that a round of personal diplomacy could help offer
a solution to an international standoff on Iran's nuclear program.

Putin's trip was thrown into doubt when the Kremlin said Sunday that he
had been informed by Russian intelligence services that suicide
attackers might try to kill him in Tehran, but he shrugged off the warning.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini dismissed
reports about the purported assassination plot as disinformation spread
by adversaries hoping to spoil good relations between Russia and Iran.

Putin has warned the U.S. and other nations against trying to coerce
Iran into reining in its nuclear program and insists peaceful dialogue
is the only way to deal with Tehran's defiance of a U.N. Security
Council demand that it suspend uranium enrichment.

"Threatening someone, in this case the Iranian leadership and Iranian
people, will lead nowhere," Putin said Monday during his trip to
Germany. "They are not afraid, believe me."

Iran's rejection of the council's demand and its previous clandestine
atomic work has fed suspicions in the U.S. and other countries that
Tehran is working to enrich uranium to a purity usable in nuclear
weapons. Iran insists it is only wants lesser-enriched uranium to fuel
nuclear reactors that would generate electricity.

Putin's visit to Tehran is being closely watched for any possible shifts
in Russia's carefully hedged stance in the nuclear standoff.

The Russian president underlined his disagreements with Washington last
week, saying he saw no "objective data" to prove Western claims that
Iran is trying to construct nuclear weapons.

Putin emphasized Monday that he would negotiate in Tehran on behalf of
the five permanent U.N. Security Council members - United States,
Russia, China, Britain and France - and Germany, a group that has led
efforts to resolve the stalemate with Tehran.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said the U.S.
government expected Putin to "convey the concerns shared by all of us
about the failure of Iran to comply with the international community's
requirements concerning its nuclear program."

Putin's schedule also called for meetings with Ahmadinejad and the
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

While the Kremlin has shielded Tehran from a U.S. push for a third round
of U.N. sanctions, Iran has voiced annoyance about Moscow's
foot-dragging in building a nuclear power plant in the southern port of
Bushehr under a $1 billion contract.

Russia warned early this year that the plant would not be launched this
fall as planned because Iran was slow in making payments. Iranian
officials have angrily denied any payment arrears and accused the
Kremlin of caving in to Western pressure.

Moscow also has ignored Iranian demands to ship fuel for the plant,
saying it would be delivered only six months before the Bushehr plant
goes on line. The launch date has been delayed indefinitely amid the
payment dispute.

Any sign by Putin that Russia could quickly complete the power plant
would embolden Iran and further cloud Russia's relations with the West.
But analysts said Putin's trip would be important for Iran even if it
yielded no agreements.

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