An interesting story at IRNA:
Seyyed Jalal Fayyazi added in his meeting with Russia’s Itar-Tass News Agency Managing Director on the sidelines of Tehran OANA Conference, “That is one of the reasons why Iran and Russia have common stands on many international developments, as well as broad comprehensive cooperation.”
Focusing on “biased US stands on Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities” he reiterated, “Both Tehran and Moscow have adopted quite rational stands on the matter throughout their long process of cooperation in the field.”
He added, “Iran and Russia’s joint enemy, relying on strong media at its disposal, presents a distorted image of the prevailing realities to the people.” Referring to the role of the media in reflecting the two countries’ objectives and policies, he said, “The two countries’ common stands call for necessity of a much broader cooperation between IRNA and Itar-Tass.”
Iran and Russia’s joint enemy? I know that Iran has Russia in its corner but this seems quite a bit bolder that the usual statements of cooperation and friendship. I wonder what the Russians have to say about this. Unfortunately, their recent actions seem to support this statement:
Russian changes to a draft U.N. resolution on Iran’s nuclear program would “cut back substantially” on restrictions the U.S. and its allies are seeking, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said Monday.
Bolton said Russia specified its proposed changes to the text during a meeting Monday of the five permanent U.N. Security Council members and Germany _ the key parties in a standoff with Iran over its nuclear ambitions.
So the question remains is the statement another example of Iranian posturing or is Russia really slipping that far from Western influence? Both?
