Sputnik International
April 16, 2015
Iran Ready to Cooperate With Russia, China, India to Oppose NATO in Europe
MOSCOW: Iran calls for cooperation with Russia, India and China to oppose NATO’s plans for military expansion in Europe, the country’s Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan said Thursday at a press conference in Moscow.
“We would like to support the idea of developing a multifaceted cooperation between China, Iran, Russia, and India to oppose the purposeful expansion of NATO to the east and placing a missile shield in Europe.”
He emphasized that Iran was ready to begin consultations on the issue to secure stability in the region.
NATO has been boosting its presence in Eastern Europe which has caused concerns from Russian authorities. The process is taking place amid tensions between the alliance and Moscow, following NATO’s accusations that Russia was providing Ukraine’s southeastern militias with military assistance.
Moscow has denied the allegations, while Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov called the alliance’s activity in Eastern Europe “unjustified.”
In February, NATO announced the increase of its Rapid Response Force from 13,000 to 30,000 military personnel, and the establishment of six new command posts in European states close to the Russian borders.
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RT
April 16, 2015
Iran urges India, China & Russia to counter NATO missile system
Iran has announced its readiness to cooperate with Russia, China and India on the issue of NATO’s missile shield and related threats from the military bloc, the head of its defense ministry said in Moscow.
“I’d like to support the idea of developing multifaceted defense cooperation between China, Iran, India and Russia to counter NATO eastwards expansion and installing a missile shield in Europe,” Hossein Dehghan said on Thursday, at an international security conference in Moscow.
Despite a deal on Tehran’s nuclear program, the US is still going to site its missile defense installations in Europe. They are being deployed over a perceived threat from “nuclear Iran” – a pretext which Moscow called a “fairytale.”
“The threat to NATO countries posed by the proliferation of ballistic missiles continues to increase… the framework [of the Iran nuclear program] agreement does not change that fact,”NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu told Sputnik.
According to Russia, the controversial missile shield in Europe is staying because “the Missile Defense System was never about Iran.”
“This serves as yet more proof that references to the ‘Iranian [missile] threat’ served as a smokescreen, whereas the genuine objective is the creation of an anti-missile program with quite a different purpose,” the Russian Foreign Ministry wrote.
The US has for years insisted the missile defense system is needed for protection against potential missiles from rogue states, such as North Korea and Iran. Moscow strongly objected to new unilateral NATO military installations, citing national security threats. Russia proposed the creation of a joint system, but Washington rejected it.
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