U.S. offers Moscow carrot to cut Iran cooperation
01:46 p.m Mar 09, 1998 Eastern
By Arshad Mohammed
WASHINGTON, March 9 (Reuters) - The United States has offered Russia the
chance to expand its lucrative launches of foreign satellites if it
cracks down on its sales of missile technology to Iran, U.S. officials
said on Monday.
One official, who asked not to be named, said the issue of Russia's
missile technology exports to Iran was on the agenda at this week's
Washington meetings between U.S. Vice President Al Gore and Russian
Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin.
''I'm not sure how detailed we're going to get into this (satellite)
issue in Gore-Chernomyrdin since we've had so many (talks) in other
channels,'' the official said. ''This is part of the whole discussion.''
The United States has long been worried by the efforts of former Soviet
republics to share ballistic missile and nuclear technology with Iran,
arguing that the spread of expertise about weapons of mass destruction
(WMD) benefits no one.
On Friday, the United States and Ukraine initialed an accord allowing
U.S. firms to bid for work on Ukrainian atomic power plants after U.S.
officials said Kiev had promised not to supply nuclear technology to
Iran.
Although one U.S. official bristled at the suggestion that Washington
was offering Russia a similar carrot to clamp down on its missile
technology sales to Russia, he acknowledged that the issues are linked.
''I would not say that it a question of offering inducements to the
Russian government,'' said the second official, adding: ''There is a
shared idea here.
''Both the United States and Russian governments agree that we need to
work more closely together on WMD issues as they relate to Iran. By the
same token, it in our mutual interest to cooperate more fully on
commercial space opportunities.''
Another U.S. official said that the commercial space launches could be
worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Russian firms and their foreign
partners.
The official also said Washington has recently detected a greater
Russian willingness to limit missile cooperation with Iran, saying this
might reflect interest in the satellite offer or concern about pending
U.S. legislation to impose economic sanctions on businesses that help
Iran develop missiles.
One example of this, U.S. officials said, was Russia's adoption in
January of tighter export controls on goods and services that could be
used to develop weapons of mass destruction.
''The Russian (government's) effort to crack down on Iran missile
cooperation by Russian entities has really come ... this year,'' said
one official. ''We're not sure if it's associated with this or with
possible sanctions.''
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott said last week he would schedule
a vote by April 3 on legislation to clamp sanctions on foreign entities
that help Iran develop or acquire ballistic missiles.
The legislation has already been cleared by the U.S. House of
Representatives.
Israel has also sought to make the case to Russia, dispatching Natan
Sharansky, its trade and industry minister, to Moscow earlier this month
to press Russia to help stop Iran from developing ballistic missiles.
Sharansky met with Gore in Washington last month to discuss the common
effort. ^REUTERS@ |
