Iran is ignoring questions from the international community about its nuclear program, using “small phrases” to make “small suggestions,” Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday. Go to CNN.

Any airstrike against Iran by the United States or Israel would be “unacceptable,” the chief of the Russian General Staff Nikolai Makarov said on Monday. Go to original article.

WASHINGTON — Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview aired Monday that while he agreed sanctions were needed to halt Iran’s nuclear drive, they should not crack down on its oil trade. Go to AFP.

The Obama administration is claiming that it finally has support from China and Russia for “crippling sanctions” on Iran over its nuclear program.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently proclaimed that America and China are “unified” on the sanctions issue, while President Obama said he expects a new United Nations Security Council sanctions resolution “within weeks.”

But there’s a catch: These hopeful statements jibe neither with reality nor with experience. Go to original article.

The nuclear treaty signed by Obama and Medvedev undercuts Iranian efforts to drive a wedge between Russia and the west. Go to Guardian.

Free Iran:  The Russians are simply trying to make sure America is tied down with perpetual talks over Iran.  It’s all about extending the current game so the Russians (as well as the Chinese) could drive a better bargain with both Iran and the US.  Why ruin a good thing?

PRAGUE — Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told President Obama privately on Thursday that there remain limits to his country’s support for sanctions on Iran, even as the move for united action to restrain Iran’s nuclear ambition accelerates.

Obama and Medvedev together pledged support for Iranian sanctions to be imposed as soon as this spring, using the sidelines of a signing ceremony for a historic nuclear arms reduction treaty as a venue for private discussions.

The administration is pressing hard this month for a new U.N. Security Council resolution that would tighten sanctions on the Islamic Republic for refusing to engage in talks on its nuclear program, but it faces reluctance from China as well as such countries as Brazil and Turkey on the 15-member council.

Speaking to reporters after an 85-minute closed-door meeting with Medvedev, Obama expressed hope that negotiators in New York will secure “strong, tough sanctions on Iran this spring.”

“We are going to be pushing very hard to make sure that both smart and strong sanctions end up being in place soon to send a signal to Iran and other countries that this is an issue that the international community takes seriously,” Obama said.

In his remarks, Medvedev said he agreed that nations cannot “turn a blind eye” to Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and said he “cannot disagree” with what Obama said. But Medvedev made clear that Russian support for sanctions will be conditioned on their intent to change Iran’s behavior, not to punish its people.

“Let me put it straightforward,” Medvedev said of his discussions with Obama at the meeting in Prague Castle. “I have outlined our limits for such sanctions, our understanding of these sanctions.”…

Also:

Sanctions:

BBC:  World powers in UN meeting on Iran nuclear sanctions

WP:  U.S. group targets Honeywell over Iran

WP:  U.S. wants Iran sanctions resolution within weeks

Nuclear:

Guardian:  Obama hails nuclear treaty as new era in relations with Russia

Carnegie:  The Obama Nuclear Agenda One Year After Prague

Democracy Now:  Despite Landmark Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia, Iran Threats and Nuclear Posture Review Raise Doubts of Significant US Shift

Politico:  Iran rundown in Prague

AEI:  Iran: Obama Pours Fuel on the Fire

Go to Washington Post.

Russia’s second-largest oil group on Wednesday said that it would consider ceasing the supply of petroleum to Iran, a move that would make it the latest in a line of companies to halt shipments to Tehran.

Lukoil’s move may be a further signal that Russia’s government is beginning to throw its weight behind the drive to increase pressure on Iran over its nuclear programme. Senior officials at the company told the Financial Times they were considering halting the shipments.

Lukoil has been supplying refined petroleum to Tehran intermittently, moving between about 250,000 barrels to 500,000 barrels every other month, according to traders.

“They are not one of the major players in supplying gasoline to Iran, they do it on occasion,” a trader told Reuters on Wednesday. But he added: “Now they will stop because of pressure coming from their head office in Moscow.”

In March, Shell announced that it had stopped petroleum supplies to Iran, joining two of the world’s largest independent trading companies, Glencore and Vitol, which had taken similar decisions.

However, news agencies said Iran has maintained a robust import programme of refined oil products from the international market, buying from Malaysia’s state oil firm Petronas, Kuwait’s Independent Petroleum Group and France’s Total…

Go to Financial Times.

THE NEW U.S.-Russian arms control treaty was described Friday by the Obama administration as a step toward the achievement of a host of ambitious goals: a “strong partnership” with the regime of Vladimir Putin; multilateral action to stop or reverse the nuclearization of Iran and North Korea; and not least, as President Obama put it, “a world without nuclear weapons.” But it’s not necessary to share the president’s long-term vision, or his expansive estimation of the new treaty’s influence, in order to celebrate what appears to be a solid diplomatic achievement.

A year in negotiation, the accord mandates a trim of about 30 percent in the deployed strategic weapons of the two countries, to 1,550 warheads on each side. Launchers — land and sea-based missiles as well as bombers — would be reduced to 800. Russia is already near that figure and will almost certainly fall well below it during the treaty’s 10-year term. The United States will have to cut launchers by several hundred, though it will be able to convert some to carry conventional weapons. That’s one reason why the treaty is more important to Moscow, and its ambitions of remaining on a par with the United States, than it is to U.S. national security.

Go to Washington Post.

The nuclear weapons cuts agreed between the US and Russia are largely about sending a message to countries such as Iran.

They are not what they might be, but they are better than they could be. The conclusion of a nuclear arms reduction agreement, after months of protracted and often fraught negotiations, suggest that relations between the US and Russia appear to be moving towards a position of grudging co-operation.

The deal, cutting each country’s arsenal of strategic warheads by about 30%, is in many ways reminiscent of the processes of the cold war. As a foreign correspondent, I remember covering various summits which, with all their panoply and with the eyes of world watching, saw American and Soviet leaders put pen to paper on some dramatic accords. Barack Obama will do the same with Dmitry Medvedev in Prague on 8 April.

…The most important motive for the nuclear deal is the signal it seeks to send to the “great proliferators”, notably Iran. The Obama-Medvedev signing ceremony will be followed by two international conferences, on nuclear security and non-proliferation. Welcome though the deal is, the Americans and Russians are unlikely to make much immediate progress with the Iranians.

Go to Guardian.

MOSCOW—U.S. sanctions against Iran forced OAO Lukoil Holdings to abandon a project in the Islamic Republic, the Russian oil company said Wednesday, as diplomatic pressure starts hurting investments from countries considered close to Iran.

In its consolidated financial statements for 2009, Lukoil said it booked an impairment loss of $63 million “for [the] Anaran project in Iran, which was abandoned due to international sanctions.” The company said, however, that it may return to the project if international political conditions improve.

…Lukoil’s statement on Iran comes after a string of Western companies, including oil major Royal Dutch Shell PLC and industrial-parts maker Ingersoll-Rand Co., said they would abstain from signing oil contracts as new sanctions against Iran loom.

But now some oil companies from Russia—a country on better terms with Iran—are also keeping their distance, narrowing the range of alternatives available to the Islamic Republic for investment. U.S. sanctions already barred investments of more than $20 million a year in Iranian exploration and production, but they are facing legal uncertainty in Europe when it comes to non-U.S. companies. Go to WSJ.

MOSCOW — Russia disclosed on Wednesday that Russian and Chinese envoys pressed Iran’s government to accept a United Nations plan on uranium enrichment during meetings in Tehran early this month but that Iran refused, leaving “less and less room for diplomatic maneuvering.”

“The clouds are piling up,” said a top Russian Foreign Ministry official, briefing reporters on the condition of anonymity, following diplomatic protocol. He said Russia would consider supporting sanctions tailored to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, though it “is certainly against any paralyzing sanctions that are aimed not at nonproliferation but at punishing Iran or, God forbid, regime change.”

Go to NY Times.

NYT:  Iran Dispute Becomes Focus of Clinton’s Russia Trip

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Russia’s foreign minister clashed publicly Thursday over an announcement that Russia would complete a nuclear power plant in Iran this summer.

Mrs. Clinton said the announcement, made during her visit, sends the wrong signal at a time when the West is trying to curb Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

The foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, countered that construction on the plant would go ahead.

The very public disagreement, at a news conference here, comes at a delicate moment for the administration, as it struggles to win support for tough new sanctions against Iran and to improve still tentative relations with Russia.

It also follows a major embarrassment to the administration during last week’s visit to Israel by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., when the Israeli government announced plans to build housing units in East Jerusalem. That incident has ignited one of the most serious rows in years between the United States and Israel.

FT:  Putin vexes US over Iran nuclear power

LA Times:  Hillary Clinton, Russians clash publicly over Iran reactor

WSJ:  Clinton Rebukes Putin’s Nuclear Plan

Times:  Iran’s atomic ambitions cause impasse at disarmament talks

WP:  U.S., Russian negotiators ‘at the finish line’ on new START nuclear pact

Iran has given Russian commercial pilots working in the Islamic Republic two months to leave the country as it has no need for them, Transport Minister Hamid Behbahani was quoted as saying on Saturday.

The move is a further sign of strains between Iran and Russia, which has indicated it could back new sanctions against Tehran over its disputed nuclear work. For its part, Iran has voiced frustration over Moscow’s failure to deliver a defense missile system.

Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency said the idea to order the Russian pilots to leave the country gained momentum after a Russian-made aircraft caught fire as it landed in northeastern Iran in January, injuring more than 40 people.

The plane belonged to Iran’s Taban airline but the pilot was Russian, Fars said. It did not say how many Russians currently worked as pilots for Iranian airlines.

“When our country itself possesses plenty of professional and specialist pilots, there is no need to bring in pilots from abroad,” he told Fars.

Iran has suffered a string of crashes in the past few decades, many involving Russian-made aircraft.

In 2009 a Tupolev aircraft flying to Armenia caught fire in mid-air and crashed, killing all 168 people on board.

U.S. sanctions against Iran have prevented it from buying new aircraft or spare parts from the West, forcing it to supplement its aging fleet of Boeing and Airbus planes with aircraft from Russia and other former Soviet states.

Russia, which has significant trade ties with Iran, is among six world powers trying to find a diplomatic solution to the long-running dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program. Go to Reuters.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday there was still room for diplomacy rather than sanctions to produce a solution to the dispute with Iran over its nuclear program.

“We will concentrate all efforts on finding political and diplomatic solutions. These efforts have not yet been exhausted,” Lavrov told journalists during a trip to Paris.

Lavrov said his comments were in line with a statement by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who on Monday said Moscow would back new sanctions against Iran as long as they did not create a humanitarian crisis.

Lavrov is accompanying Medvedev on an official visit to France for talks that touched on Iran sanctions. Go to Reuters.