Medvedev expresses concerns over second Iranian nuclear plant

Sep 25, 2009, 19:43 GMT

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev expressed concerns about the disclosure Friday that Iran has had a secret nuclear facility for years, and said the revelation will harden the international community's determination to resolve the nuclear dispute with the Islamic state.

Medevedev released a statement on the sidelines of the G20 summit, where French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said new sanctions against Iran could soon be in the works.

'The revealed information that Iran is building a new enrichment plant is serving to strengthen our determination to achieve early concrete and verifiable results,' Medvedev said, according to Interfax news agency.

US President Barack Obama strongly criticized Iran for keeping the plant hidden from UN inspectors for years. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Friday that it received a later from Iran on Monday confirming the existence of the second nuclear plant in the southern part of the country near Qom. US officials believe the plant is intended for enriching uranium but say it is not yet operating.

The UN Security Council in recent years had adopted three resolutions applying only mild sanctions on Iran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment, mainly because Russia and China have opposed tougher measures.

But Medvedev said this week he might be open to more sanctions even though he expressed skepticism of their effectiveness. Russia is among the five permanent members of the Security Council with authority to veto any resolution.

'When all instruments have been used and failed, one can use international legal sanctions,' Medvedev said during an appearance at the University of Pittsburgh shortly before the G20 summit began on Thursday.

Getting the Russians on board would be key to Obama's efforts to apply more pressure on Iran to bring its nuclear programme into compliance with international demands. It is widely believed that Medvedev is more open to stricter measures on Iran because Obama earlier this month dropped Bush-era plans to station a long-range missile-defence system in Eastern Europe.

Moscow strong opposed the missile shield and it became the main cause of deteriorating US-Russian relations in recent years.