“Naturally, I’ll go to Iran,” Putin told a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Wiesbaden, near Frankfurt, today.
Putin is due to travel to Tehran from Wiesbaden later today, one day after he was warned of a plan to kill him in the Iranian capital. Putin is scheduled to take part in a summit tomorrow of the five countries with Caspian Sea coastlines, in an effort to resolve the ownership of oil and gas deposits. Iran’s nuclear program will be on the agenda for his talks with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he said.
The international community must use the same measures with Iran as with North Korea to persuade the Islamic Republic to halt uranium enrichment, Putin said. Russia is still opposed to a U.S. call for stronger international sanctions on Iran unless it halts its nuclear program, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Oct. 12 after talks in Moscow with a U.S. delegation that included Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
“It is pointless to frighten someone, Iran’s leadership or Iran’s people,” Putin said. “They aren’t afraid.” Rather, “we need patience.”
Merkel said Iran had to fulfill the United Nations Security Council’s demands over its nuclear program, adding that otherwise “there will have to be a new round of sanctions.”
