WAR WITH IRAN WOULD BE CATASTROPHIC – IVANOV

RIA Novosti, Russia
April 11 2007

YEREVAN, April 11 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s first deputy prime minister
said Wednesday a war against Iran would lead to a catastrophe.

The Islamic Republic is under UN sanctions over failure to halt uranium
enrichment, and Washington has refused to rule out a military operation
against Iran as a way of forcing its compliance with the demands of
the global community, which fears Tehran is seeking nuclear weapons.

"The Iranian problem needs to be resolved in a political and diplomatic
way, as a threat of war is a road to nowhere, or to a catastrophe,"
Sergei Ivanov, Russia’s former defense minister, said in the Armenian
capital, Yerevan.

The United States has reportedly been building up its Air Force and
Navy contingent near the oil-rich Middle East nation, while Russian
military officials have suggested that the U.S. could launch strikes
on Iran’s underground nuclear sites.

The latest United Nations resolution on the defiant regime highlights a
focus on diplomacy, but accepts the possibility of a military solution
to the crisis.

Ivanov admitted Tehran’s "nuclear dossier" was controversial, but
said the nation had the right to pursue civilian nuclear energy. He
said uranium enrichment activities should be controlled by the UN
nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

He said Russia, which is building Iran’s first nuclear power
plant, has offered to provide the Islamic Republic with nuclear
fuel for electricity generation and to accept spent fuel back for
reprocessing. Tehran has neither accepted nor rejected the proposal.

Iran, which insists its nuclear program is peaceful, said Monday it
had begun producing nuclear fuel on an industrial scale, and reiterated
plans to continue enlarging its nuclear fuel production capacity.

Russia said it considered to announcement doubtful, with Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov saying the claim was still unsubstantiated.