MOSCOW: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday said he would demand an explanation from the US over its military build-up in the Middle East and criticised Washington for “hardline” policies against Iran.
Lavrov said he would discuss Moscow’s concerns during a meeting of the international Quartet group, which meets in Washington next week to try to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
“I have not seen any change in the rather aggressive rhetoric from Washington. It continues, as does the growing military presence in the region. This will be one of the questions that we want to clear up in Washington,” he was quoted as saying by state-run news agency RIA Novosti.
Lavrov also criticised what he said were US threats to bypass the UN in taking new measures against Iran’s controversial nuclear power programme.
Washington believes the programme, in which Russia is building the first civilian power station at Bushehr, secretly aims to build an atomic weapon.
“Washington’s hardline policy concerning Iran foresees... much tougher sanctions than those called for in the last UN Security Council resolution,” he was quoted as saying by Itar-Tass. “We would like to get an explanation on what stands behinds this.”
Unilateral measures “damage the joint work on Iran and our joint goal of getting Tehran to restart negotiations,” he said, Interfax news agency reported.
Lavrov urged the US to include Iran and Syria in a wider Middle East peace process, saying the two countries, which have long been at loggerheads with the US, could positively influence both the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the crisis in Lebanon.
“We are deeply convinced that Iran and Syria must be included in the process,” he was quoted as saying by Interfax.
“Many Arab countries are for including all influential players in the regulation of the Middle East crisis,” he said, Itar-Tass reported. “This means including Iran and Syria in resolving the Lebanese and the Palestinian-Israeli problems.”
The Quartet is to meet on February 2 in the US capital, according to the State Department.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will host Lavrov, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, and EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner.
The meeting takes place against a backdrop of violence and tensions in Lebanon and in the Palestinian territory, as well as the raging conflict in Iraq, where 21,000 extra US troops are due to be deployed shortly.
The US has also boosted forces in the region with the dispatch of an aircraft carrier, which should join another already present in about a month, according to the US Navy. – AFP |
