Russia FM: Threats of sanctions against Iran won't work

Russia pushed back on Tuesday at U.S. efforts to threaten tough new sanctions if Iran fails to prove that its nuclear program is peaceful, a setback to the Obama administration's desire to present a united front with Moscow.

After meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow believed that such threats would not persuade Iran to comply and that negotiations should continue to be pursued.

"At the current stage, all forces should be thrown at supporting the negotiating process," he told reporters at a joint news conference with Clinton. "Threats, sanctions and threats of pressure in the current situation, we are convinced, would be counterproductive."

Clinton, on her first visit to Moscow as America's top diplomat, had been looking to gauge Russia's willingness to join the United States in applying additional pressure on Iran to come clean about its nuclear intentions. The U.S., Israel and other nations fear Iran is working toward making nuclear weapons, but Iran insists its nuclear program is to generate energy.

Russia, along with China, has traditionally balked at sanctions but there had been indications that opposition might be softening after Tehran last month disclosed a previously secret uranium enrichment site near the holy city of Qom.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said then that while sanctions are rarely productive in some cases they are inevitable. Lavrov stressed on Tuesday that Medvedev meant only that sanctions would be considered when all political and diplomatic efforts are exhausted.

Clinton, who met later with Medvedev, said she had not asked for Moscow's specific support for actually imposing sanctions. But U.S. officials said they were disappointed that Lavrov had come out against even the threat of new penalties.

One senior official traveling with Clinton said the U.S. continued to believe it is critical to get tangible signs of support from Moscow for at least considering new sanctions because the more united they are, the more likely pressure on Iran is to work. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal administration thinking.

Clinton agreed with Lavrov that the U.S. believed it was important to pursue diplomacy in the carrot-and-stick approach the international community is taking with Iran. But, she also said it was critical to let Iran know what will happen should it continue to rebuff the United Nations demands.

"At the same time that we are very vigorously pursuing this [diplomatic] track, we are aware that we might not be as successful as we need to be," she said.

"So we have always looked at the potential of sanctions in the event we are not successful and cannot assure ourselves and others that Iran has decided not to pursue nuclear weapons," Clinton said.

She said the United States did not believe it was time to impose new sanctions, noting that Iran has pledged some steps, include opening up a recently disclosed uranium enrichment plant to UN inspectors and sending existing stocks of low enriched uranium to Russia for reprocessing.

Iran insists it has the right to a full domestic nuclear enrichment program and maintains it is only for peaceful purposes, such as energy production.

Iran is already under three sets of UN sanctions for failing to address fears it is making nuclear weapons.

U.S. President Barack Obama - who visited Russia in July - has vowed to reset U.S.-Russia relations and Clinton brought a wide range of issues to Moscow for discussion.

Clinton apologized for missing Obama's visit because of a broken elbow, but joked that that, "Now both my elbow and our relationships are reset and we're moving forward, which I greatly welcome."

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was in Beijing on a trade mission and was not in Moscow for the talks with Clinton. China and Russia signed a deal Tuesday that could see a steady flow of Russian natural gas to energy-hungry China - one of numerous trade and military agreements signed during Putin's state visit.

Beyond Iran, Lavrov said U.S. and Russia negotiators have made considerable progress toward reaching agreement on a new strategic arms treaty. The 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, expires in December and negotiators have been racing to reach agreement on a successor.

The two diplomats also discussed possible cooperation on missile defensefollowing Obama's decision not to proceed with Bush-administration plans to base such a system in eastern Europe. Russia has welcomed Obama's new approach, but has said it was eager for more detailed information.

Clinton said the U.S. would be as transparent as possible.

We want to ensure that every question that the Russian military or Russian government asks is answered, she said, calling missile defense another area for deep cooperation between our countries.

Also on the agenda were Afghanistan, nuclear-armed North Korea, NATO expansion, the situation in Georgia after its conflict with Russia last year, human rights and arms control.