Kremlin says it disagrees with Trump’s assessment of Iran as ‘No. 1 terrorist state’
Russia requests apology from Fox News over Bill O’Reilly’s ‘killer’ comments
MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Kremlin said on Monday it did not agree with US President Donald Trump’s assessment of Iran as “the number one terrorist state” and a Russian diplomat said any US attempt to reopen an Iran nuclear deal would inflame tensions in the Middle East.
Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have made clear they want to try to mend US-Russia ties, which have slid to a post-Cold War low in recent years. But starkly different approaches to Iran, as set out by a raft of top Russian officials on Monday, could complicate any rapprochement.
Their comments also suggest that a policy idea Trump and his aides are reported to be considering – to try to drive a wedge between Moscow and Tehran – may be a non-starter.
Trump told Fox News in an interview aired over the weekend that Iran had “total disregard” for the United States and labeled Tehran “the number one terrorist state,” complaining it was sending arms and weapons “all over the world.”
He spoke out after his administration put the Islamic Republic “on notice” following an Iranian ballistic missile test and imposed new economic sanctions on Friday.
Two sources told Reuters last week the Trump administration was now exploring how to renegotiate key terms of the 2015 accord between Tehran and six world powers, under which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program.
But several top officials in Russia, which has worked closely with Iran to support President Bashar Assad in Syria, signaled on Monday that they fundamentally disagreed with Trump’s approach to Tehran.
When asked about Trump’s description of Iran as a “terrorist state,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Moscow saw things very differently.
“Russia has friendly partner-like relations with Iran. We cooperate on a wide range of issues, value our trade ties, and hope to develop them further,” said Peskov.
“It’s no secret for anyone that Moscow and Washington hold diametrically opposed views on many international issues,” he added, saying that should not hinder a rapprochement.
Russia’s ambassador to Iran, Levan Djagaryan, said Moscow was concerned by escalating rhetoric between the United States and Iran, while Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, said Washington’s decision to impose new sanctions on Iran was a source of regret.
Ryabkov, in a separate interview with the Moscow-based Security Index Journal published on Monday, also urged Washington not to try to reopen the Iran nuclear deal, saying to do so would risk inflaming the Middle East.
“Don’t try to fix what isn’t broken,” said Ryabkov. “It would be an undesirable and negative turn of events that would only serve to pour oil on the flames in the Middle East.”
Trump has spoken of the possibility of cooperating with Russia to fight Islamic State.
In comments that further underlined how far apart Moscow and Washington are over Iran, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters on Monday he thought Iran should be part of an international coalition to fight the militant group.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin said Monday it wanted an apology from Fox News over what it said were “unacceptable” comments one of the channel’s presenters made about Putin in an interview with Trump.
Fox News host Bill O’Reilly described Putin as “a killer” in the interview with Trump as he tried to press the US president to explain more fully why he respected his Russian counterpart. O’Reilly did not say who he thought Putin had killed.
“We consider such words from the Fox TV company to be unacceptable and insulting, and honestly speaking, we would prefer to get an apology from such a respected TV company,” Kremlin spokesman Peskov told reporters on a conference call.
Fox News and O’Reilly did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Putin, in his 17th year of dominating the Russian political landscape, is accused by some Kremlin critics of ordering the killing of opponents. Putin and the Kremlin have repeatedly rejected those allegations as politically motivated and false.