As Western powers batten down the hatches
and prepare sanctions against Tehran, a senior Russian official says
there still is no proof of an Iranian nuclear weapons program.
In remarks published on Friday, deputy Russian foreign minister
Alexander Saltanov reiterated that Moscow is not convinced that Iran
seeks to weoponize its nuclear program, and moreover he has not been
shown any corroborative evidence confirming that the country has any
such plans.
"Russia has no concrete information that Iran is planning to
construct a weapon. It may be more like Japan, which has nuclear
readiness but does not have a bomb," Primakov told The Jerusalem Post.
In order to pressure Iran into halting its nuclear work, Washington
and a number of European countries have vowed to push for new UN
sanctions early next year.
But the calls for renewed pressure were once again snubbed by China and Russia.
Saltanov said while "Iran has a positive potential" to cooperate
with the West on its nuclear case, it is most evident that a military
solution against the Tehran government would only make matters worse.
"If Israel attacks Iran it will cause great instability and will
only postpone the Iranian program, not end it," noted the Russian
official.
Israel routinely threatens to bomb Iran's enrichment sites, arguing
that the country's nuclear work is a mortal threat to Tel Aviv, which
ironically is reported to have the Middle East's sole nuclear arsenal
and 200 nuclear warheads at its disposal.
This is while Iran, unlike Tel Aviv, is a signatory of the nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and has opened its nuclear facilities to
routine inspections by the UN nuclear watchdog.
In response to Israeli war threats, Tehran warns that if Tel Aviv
steps out of line, it will close the strategic Strait of Hormuz to
maritime traffic, including the 15 or so supertankers that sail through
on a daily basis to deliver the world's oil supplies.
A recent report by the US Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) has
confirmed that if the United States or Israel decide to bomb Tehran's
nuclear sites, Iran's naval modernization and maritime capabilities
have reached a point where it can shut down the strategic Strait of
Hormuz.
"Given the importance of the Strait, disrupting traffic flow or
even threatening to do so may be an effective tool for Iran," said the
intelligence report, which was revealed by Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin
in November.
It notes that while Iran's ability to shut down the Strait of
Hormuz may be transitory, the impact would undoubtedly have
far-reaching consequences for the already-fragile world economy.
"[World economies would suffer] a serious economic impact from a
sustain closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to greatly reduced supplies
of crude oil, petroleum supplies and (liquefied natural gas)," ONI
said.
On the same note, the report adds that not only has Tehran acquired
"increasingly sophisticated systems" from China and Russia, but the
“modernization” of the Iranian navy is to an extent that would help the
government carry out such a closure if need be.
Press TV