WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Barack Obama called on Russia to join in the effort to keep Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
Obama spoke Friday on the eve of a NATO summit, where the United States will press for greater sensitivity to Russian concerns about the western alliance’s expansion, while calling on Russia to join with the west in confronting threats.
Among those, Obama said, was Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons program.
"We cannot have a nuclear arms race in the Middle East," he said at his joint press conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Strasbourg.
The United States has in recent years pressed Russia and China to reduce their business and dealings with Iran as a means of pressuring the Islamic Republic to suspend its uranium enrichment program.
