US Says Iran Risks Dependency on Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin looks on during a joint press conference with his Iranian and Turkish counterparts following their summit in Tehran ATTA KENARE AFP
Russian President Vladimir Putin looks on during a joint press conference with his Iranian and Turkish counterparts following their summit in Tehran ATTA KENARE AFP
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US Says Iran Risks Dependency on Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin looks on during a joint press conference with his Iranian and Turkish counterparts following their summit in Tehran ATTA KENARE AFP
Russian President Vladimir Putin looks on during a joint press conference with his Iranian and Turkish counterparts following their summit in Tehran ATTA KENARE AFP

The United States on Wednesday warned Iran that it risked dependency on an isolated Russia after it welcomed President Vladimir Putin, although the CIA chief acknowledged the two nations have uneasy ties.

Putin on Tuesday visited Tehran for a three-way summit with his counterparts from Iran and Turkey that was nominally about conflict-ridden Syria, AFP said.

On the sidelines of the summit, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei called for "long-term cooperation" with Russia, even though Tehran earlier tried to show its neutrality by abstaining from a key UN vote on condemning Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

"Iran has now cast its lot with a small number of countries who wore that veil of neutrality only to end up supporting President Putin in his war against Ukraine and the Ukrainian people," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.

The United States recently released intelligence purporting to show Russian delegations visiting Iran to assess combat drones as it looks to bolster its arsenal against Western arms in Ukraine.

But Price signaled that Iran's return to compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal -- backed by President Joe Biden after his predecessor Donald Trump trashed it -- would start a new "economic relationship with other countries around the world."

Negotiations have been deadlocked in part over Iranian demands that Biden lift Trump's designation of the powerful Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group.

Despite the US criticism of Iran's summit, CIA chief Bill Burns -- who as a diplomat helped broker the Iran deal and served as ambassador to Moscow -- said Iran and Russia were reaching out to each other primarily because they are both "looking to break out of political isolation" and are under sanctions.

"But if they need each other, they don't really trust each other in the sense that they are energy rivals and historical competitors," Burns said at the Aspen Security Forum.

Moscow has a long history of intervention in Iran, occupying the key northern city of Tabriz in the early 20th century and joining Britain in an invasion of the country in 1941.

- No sign that Putin ill -
Burns, a Russian speaker who served as ambassador early in Putin's tenure, was quietly sent to Moscow last year in an unsuccessful attempt to dissuade him from invading Ukraine.

Burns, noting that he has dealt with Putin over two decades, described the Russian leader as having "a very combustible mix of grievance and ambition and insecurity."

"He is not a big believer in the better angels of the human spirit," Burns said.

"He is convinced that his destiny as Russia's leader is to restore Russia as a great power," he said.

Asked about periodic media reports suggesting Putin is ill, Burns retorted: "There are lots of rumors about President Putin's health and, as far as we can tell, he is apparently too healthy."



Kremlin Says New US Base in Poland Is Aimed at ‘Containing’ Russia

Russia, Saint Petersburg: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a meeting at the Konstantinovsky Palace. Photo: Vladimir Smirnov/Kremlin/dpa
Russia, Saint Petersburg: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a meeting at the Konstantinovsky Palace. Photo: Vladimir Smirnov/Kremlin/dpa
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Kremlin Says New US Base in Poland Is Aimed at ‘Containing’ Russia

Russia, Saint Petersburg: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a meeting at the Konstantinovsky Palace. Photo: Vladimir Smirnov/Kremlin/dpa
Russia, Saint Petersburg: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a meeting at the Konstantinovsky Palace. Photo: Vladimir Smirnov/Kremlin/dpa

The Kremlin said on Wednesday the opening of a new US missile base in Poland was part of an attempt to contain Russia by moving American military infrastructure closer to its borders.

The US base at Redzikowo is part of a broader NATO missile shield dubbed "Aegis Ashore", which the alliance says is capable of intercepting short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said President Vladimir Putin had objected to plans for the base as far back as the 2000s, when George W. Bush was US president.

He said Putin had insisted at the time the United States was lying when it said the purpose was to intercept potential Iranian missiles.

"This is confirmation that President Putin was right. These plans continue to be implemented. This is the advancement of American military infrastructure on European territory towards our borders," Peskov said.

"This is nothing other than an attempt to contain our military potential and, of course, this leads to the adoption of appropriate measures to ensure parity."

Peskov did not say what measures Russia might take in response.