Russia Warns to Take Tough Action against Military Strike on Iran
TEHRAN (FNA)- Moscow warned the western powers to avoid a military threat against Iran, cautioning that Russia would regard any military intervention linked to Iran's nuclear program as a threat to its own security.
The escalating conflict around Iran should be contained by common effort, otherwise the promising Arab Spring will grow into a "scorching Arab Summer," Moscow's departing Ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin warned on Friday.
"Iran is our close neighbor, just south of the Caucasus. Should anything happen to Iran, should Iran get drawn into any political or military hardships, this will be a direct threat to our national security," Rogozin, who is now Russia's deputy prime minister, said two days after the killing of a nuclear scientist in Tehran by a hitman on a motorcycle.
"We are definitely interested in the non-proliferation of the weapons of mass destruction," Rogozin said on Friday. "But at the same time, we believe that any country has the right to have what it needs to feel comfortable, including Iran."
Dmitry Rogozin, who served as Russia's special envoy to NATO in 2008-2011, was appointed deputy prime minister by Vladimir Putin in December. On Friday he was bidding farewell to his NATO colleagues in the alliance's headquarters in Brussels.
Rogozin, often described as an anti-Western hawk will oversee Russia's defense sector when he returns to Moscow.
The remarks came as Kremlin Security Council head Nikolai Patrushev, who is close to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, said Israel was pushing the United States towards war with Iran.