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Indo-Russian defence ties - US worried |
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Ignoring the US threats of economic sanctions, Russia has gone ahead with forging expanded military and security ties with Iran. After the talks the visiting Russian Defence Minister, Mr. Igor Sergeyev, had with Iranian leaders in Teheran on Dec. 29, the Defence Ministers of the two countries announced their decision to cooperate in these two fields although they refrained from announcing any new arms deals after three meetings in Teheran. j US officials expressed fears that Russian military aid and technology transfers could be used to develop Iran’s nuclear programmes and that conventional arms sales could threaten regional stability and US interests in the oil-rich West Asia.
Political observers say, the Russian decision to enter into military cooperation with Iran marks the end of Russian-US secret memorandum signed by Vice President Al gore and the then Russian Premier Viktor Chernomydin in 1995. Under this document, Russia assumed an obligation to complete by the end of 1999 all contracts for the deliveries of arms and military equipment to Iran and not to sign new agreements with Iran on military-technological cooperation after that. The visit by Mr. sergeyev, to Teheran, the first by a Russian Defence chief since Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution, came only a few weeks after Russia notified the US that it planned to back out of the 19965 agreement between Moscow and Washington. The US threatened Russia with economic sanctions if it went ahead with arms sales to Iran. However, no direct measure has so far been taken by Washington.
In recent months, a growing number of countries around the world have initiated new economic and political relations with Iran in defiance of US calls for sanctions against Iran, which Washington accuses of sponsoring international terrorism and developing a rogue nuclear programme. The 1997 election of Mohammed Khatami, a moderate cleric, who has attempted, with varying degrees of success, to initiate political and social reforms in the strict Islamic State, has eroded international will to abide by the sanctions. However, US officials have said they consider Russian relations with Iran a particularly dangerous alliance for US interests and one of the many new foreign policy challenges facing President-elect George W. Bush.
Iran has been one of Russia’s main weapons clients, buying an estimated $5 billion in tanks, fighters and bombers, submarines and air defence systems over the past six years. But, Iran paid only about $1 billion of its bill in cash because of low oil prices and economic sanctions. The bulk of the payments came as write-off on outstanding Soviet debts to Iran and in Iranian oil swaps given to Russia for resale. Now that the oil prices have skyrocketed, Iran has announced that it plans to spend a large part of its current cash surplus on upgrading and modernizing its military equipment.
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