Israel failed this week to convince Russia not to sell nuclear reactors to Iran.
A delegation from the Israeli Foreign Ministry held talks about the issue over the weekend in Moscow with a number of senior Russian officials including Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Posolyvek.
The Israeli delegation, led by Foreign Ministry Deputy Director Eitan Ben Tsur, expressed concern over Iran’s growing strength, its support of terror and its efforts to obtain nuclear weapons.
The Russians responded that they intended to follow through with the deal but stressed that the Iranians could not exploit the purchase to build nuclear weapons.
Russian officials, maintaining that the reactors cannot be used for military purposes, said it would place its trust in the efforts of the International Atomic Energy Agency which will monitor activities at the reactor sites.
In addition to the observers from the IAEA, Russia plans to send its own experts to monitor the use of the reactors, Russian officials said.
Iran is relatively weak and feels threatened both by the United States and by its neighboring countries, the officials said, adding that Russia did not share Israel’s assessment that Iran is a major supported of Islamic fundamentalist terror groups.
The Israeli-Russian talks came in advance of a visit to the Middle East by Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev. The Russian foreign minister was scheduled to meet this week with U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher before heading to the Middle East, the Israeli daily Ha’aretz reported.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
