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LAVROV CAUTIONS AGAINST HASTY CONCLUSIONS ON IRAN STATEMENT(Interfax News Agency Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)MOSCOW. April 12 (Interfax) - Moscow does not think any conclusions should be made right now concerning Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's statements that Iran has joined the nuclear club. "I would not make any conclusions in haste. Emotions run high too often over the Iranian nuclear program. As I've said on many occasions, Russia's task is to rule out violations of the nuclear weapons nonproliferation regime," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the press in Moscow on Wednesday following talks with his Albanian counterpart, Besnik Mustafaj. "We see the International Atomic Energy Agency as the main expert. The IAEA has not reported any threat to the nonproliferation regime coming from Iran, and continues clarifying the remaining queries," the Russian foreign minister said. IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei's visit to Tehran, beginning today, is expected to address this issue, Lavrov said. "It will be a scheduled, not an emergency visit. We back more intensive contacts between Iran and the IAEA, and urge Iran to cooperate actively," he said. Lavrov said the visit will hopefully facilitate efforts to settle the Iranian nuclear problem. |