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Iran Talks

Putin to Travel to Tehran Despite Report of Assassination Plot

Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Germany for talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel, is due to travel on to Tehran later on Monday despite a report of a plot by suicide bombers to kill him there. Meanwhile Merkel has emphasized her tough stance on Iran's nuclear program.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to go ahead with a planned visit to Iran later on Monday despite a Russian news agency report that suicide bombers were planning to assassinate him in Tehran.

Putin, in the western German city of Wiesbaden for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, has declined to comment on the Russian Interfax news agency report which came out on Sunday quoting an unnamed source in the Russian security services.

"A reliable source in one of the Russian special services has received information from several sources outside Russia that during the president of Russia's visit to Tehran an assassination attempt is being plotted," Interfax said. "A number of groups of suicide bombers are preparing for this aim," Interfax, one of a small circle of Russian agencies with special access to the Kremlin, added.

It gave no details of who the sources were or whether they were linked in any way to Western governments. Iran said the report was baseless and described the allegation as "psychological warfare" calculated by Tehran's enemies -- an apparent reference to Western powers -- to undermine Russian-Iranian relations.

Putin, who will be the first Kremlin chief to visit Iran since Josef Stalin went in 1943, is set to take part in a summit of Caspian Sea states. But a meeting planned with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could give him a chance to seek a peaceful compromise over Tehran's nuclear program and to demonstrate his independence from Washington on Middle East issues.

Russia has a softer stance on Iran than the Western powers. It says engaging Tehran is a more effective way of tackling Iran's nuclear program than isolating it. Russia sells weapons to Iran despite US concerns and is building a nuclear power station for Iran at Bushehr, on the Persian Gulf.

Putin's trip to Tehran is diplomatically sensitive for the Kremlin, with Russian officials saying privately they are uncomfortable about Ahmadinejad's radical rhetoric. Traveling to Tehran could deepen differences with the West over how to deal with Iran.

Merkel Talks Tough on Iran

In an illustration of differences on how to tackle Iran, Merkel gave a strongly worded newspaper interview in which she said the United Nations must consider imposing further sanctions against Iran if it doesn't comply with international demands to halt its nuclear enrichment program.

She told Die Welt newspaper that Iran "threatens the security of Israel, which for me as German Chancellor will never be negotiable. It threatens the region, Europe and the world. We have to prevent that."

The UN Security Council has passed two sanctions resolutions against Iran for failing to stop uranium enrichment. The West suspects Iran of trying to build a nuclear bomb. Iran denies the charge and says its program is purely for civilian purposes.

Merkel's comments follow calls from the US and France for tougher sanctions.

"We cannot close our eyes to a threat. I'm emphatically in favour of solving the problem through negotiations, but we also need to be ready to impose further sanctions if Iran does not comply," she said in the interview published on Monday.

The United States, the EU, Russia and China -- have offered Tehran a package of economic, civil nuclear and security incentives if it suspends its most sensitive atomic work.

Merkel had dinner with Putin in the town of Hattenheim near Wiesbaden in Germany's Rheingau winegrowing region on Sunday night. Putin's arrival was delayed by snow in Moscow, the German government press office said.

The talks continue on Monday as part of the annual German-Russian consultations, a forum for bilateral meetings launched in 1998.

Merkel and Putin are expected to talk about Iran's nuclear ambitions, the future of Kosovo, US plans for a missile defence system in eastern Europe, as well as energy industry cooperation.

cro/ddp/dpa/Reuters