Attempts to isolate Iran from the international community testify a lack of foresight, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with Ekho Moskvy radio station.
"Wherever one looks - Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and perhaps, a little wider - Iran has leverage. The task is to include this impact in a common fund and use within the search for constructive, peaceful solutions of all aspects of that crisis situation, where this very dangerously region is situated. Attempts to isolate those who can contribute, under any sauce, they may be justified by short-term desire not to sacrifice principles, but they suffer the lack of foresight," Lavrov said.
The U.S. and the West have accused Iran of intending to develop nuclear weapons. Iran has also made it clear that the enrichment of uranium is carried out to provide fuel for nuclear power plants. In 2006, Iran's nuclear dossier was sent to the UN Security Council by the IAEA Council of Judges. So far, the UN Security Council adopted five resolutions to suspend the nuclear program of Iran. Three of them envisage economic sanctions against Iran.
Lavrov also thinks that Iran has become a very important tool in the region after Bush's administration declared war on Iraq. The coalition won Iraq and Baath Party was disbanded. It was the foundation of the regime mainly consisting of Sunni.
"The Sunnis were simply deprived of all rights. They were expelled from the army, drove them from the security forces, all governmental departments. The Americans have staked on the Shiites, Minister said. It gave Iran a very important lever in this region once and free, where Shiite opposition with Saddam Hussein always received support.
He also added that, despite the fact that the United States and Russia have the same positions on inadmissibility of violations of the proliferation of nuclear weapons, the methods of their implementation do not coincide absolutely. It is stipulated by neighborhood and long historical ties between Russia and Iran.
"Iran is a close neighbor for us, as opposed to the U.S. We have very long, historically conditioned ties with this country. We cooperate with this country in economic, humanitarian, and military-technical field, Lavrov said. I should stress that this country is our partner in the Caspian Sea along even with 3 other Caspian littoral states. So we are not indifferent to what will happen in Iran and around it, he said.
Official statements of Iran that it is going to destroy the State of Israel are unacceptable. Moreover, Russia is very concerned about Iran's refusal to cooperate with the IAEA, Foreign Minister said.
"Formally, legally, again, from the standpoint of international law, mastering with the complete nuclear fuel cycle for peaceful purposes, for purposes of nuclear energy is not prohibited, he said. But the Iranian leadership have been conducted its secret nuclear program not reporting to the IAEA for 20 years.
The IAEA chief has repeatedly said that Tehran must fully answer all the questions raised by the Agency, and to allow observers from international organizations to conduct unscheduled checks on enterprises that deal with developments in the field of nuclear energy to establish an atmosphere of trust.
Lavrov expressed some confusion why Iran did not inform the IAEA about its nuclear program because the data about this nuclear program obtained later, showed that it really did not have a military component.
He also believes that Iran must give "more comprehensible" explanations about how the country got some documents relating to military nuclear technology.
Lavrov called all efforts taken by Russia jointly with China, the U.S., Europe to resume talks with Iran in the broader context of settlement of the nuclear program as constructive.
In October 2009, the IAEA and six international mediators on Iran (Russia, USA, China, Britain, France and Germany) proposed Tehran to exchange the country's low-enriched uranium (up to 3,5 percent) for foreign highly enriched fuel (20 percent). Iran has not rejected the proposal, but the parties still can not agree on an exchange basis.
"Proposals that Iran made a long time ago and for which we hoped Iran would respond positively envisage not only settlement of the nuclear program, they contained benefits which Iran will get, Foreign Minister said.
Lavrov also pointed to the fact that Russia has made these proposals to be included in the third section concerning Iran's participation in the discussion, consideration, solving regional security issues.
"To our regret, this topic is indicated by a dotted line, he said. We wanted to decipher it. We wish that the proposals, that have been submitted to Iran, to guarantee that in all cases, its safety will be guaranteed by all of us and the UN Security Council and Iran would be an equal participant in multilateral discussions on various issues in the region," he said.
According to him, everybody agreed with it. But the former U.S. administration did not want to promise too much to Iran.
"We will seek a solution to this question, regardless of how things will go with the Iranian nuclear program. I hope that it would go peacefully by the political-diplomatic means," Lavrov said.
