BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

22/01/2007

Belarus - Iran Happy Military Ties & Cooperation (Hey, world, you better watch out!)

Michael Batiukov

This week, on Monday, January 22, 2007 President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has met Leonid Maltsev, the Defense Minister of Belarus. During the meeting, Ahmadinejad said that the two states share identical views about regional and global issues, and voiced Tehran's support for the expansion and development of ties and cooperation with Minsk in ALL areas.

Then following their second round of talks, Iranian and Belarusian Defense Ministers signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the field of defense. Exchange of expert delegations, technical and training cooperation, continued dialogues and consultations at the level of the two countries defense ministers are among the topics touched in the agreement.

"As far as the visit itself is concerned, any issue may be discussed there. Most likely, it may be air-defense devices, their electronic "filling" and possible maintenance service of the missile complexes, supplied by Russia, because corresponding specialists are available in Belarus and the Belarusian services will be cheaper than the Russian ones. It can't be excluded that the nuclear program is under discussion. Creation of nuclear weapons is unlikely to be the direct subject of the discussion but the so-called "double-purpose" technologies are most likely to be discussed with Iran. The fact that it has been done on the sly and not covered by the state media does witness the possibility of military-purpose technologies transfer to Iran", considers Andrei Sannikov, former deputy minister for foreign affairs of Belarus, international coordinator of the Charter'97.

Also Andrei Sannikov reminded that at present the issue of Iran's nuclear programs is seriously treated by the Security Council of the UNO and, consequently, all contracts of Iran with military and technology agencies of other countries are under strict attention.

Meantime in Brussels European Union foreign ministers agreed on Monday to apply U.N. sanctions on Iran "in full and without delay" and if necessary go further than a U.N. list in targeting those linked to Tehran's nuclear work. EU has approved the support of the UN Security Council Resolution #1737 (dated December 23, 2006) stating that: "the Council decided that Iran should, without further delay, suspend the following proliferation sensitive nuclear activities: all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including research and development; and work on all heavy-water related projects, including the construction of a research reactor moderated by heavy water. The halt to those activities would be verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Specifically, the Council decided that all States should prevent the supply, sale or transfer, for the use by or benefit of Iran, of related equipment and technology, if the State determined that such items would contribute to enrichment-related, reprocessing or heavy-water related activities, or to the development of nuclear weapon delivery systems. The Council decided it would terminate the measures if Iran fully complied with its obligations, or adopt additional ones and possible further decisions if the country did not."

Nevertheless also on Monday, Jan. 22, 2007 Iran said has barred 38 members of a U.N. nuclear inspection team from entering the country and announced new tests of short-range Zalzal and Fajr-5 missiles planned this Sunday, Jan. 28, 2007.

Belarus Foreign Policy: wrong place, wrong time, shuttering consequences:

Source:

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=19524