Russia votes for additional UN sanctions on Iran

Iranian and Russian officials oversaw pre-commissioning tests at Bushehr, a visible step toward bringing Iran’s Russian-assisted nuclear power plant into operation.

Russian president Dmitry Medvedev met Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation gathering in Yekaterinburg, maintaining high-level bilateral contact.

Iran and the six negotiating powers, including Russia, discussed in Geneva a fuel-supply concept for the Tehran Research Reactor, opening a potential confidence-building channel.

The IAEA hosted representatives of Iran, Russia, France and the United States in Vienna to discuss supplying fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor.

Russia supported an IAEA Board resolution censuring Iran over its previously undisclosed enrichment facility, revealing limits to Moscow’s support for Tehran in nuclear diplomacy.

The process of loading Russian fuel at Bushehr began under IAEA supervision, advancing Iran’s first nuclear power reactor toward operation.

Dmitry Medvedev signed decree 1154 restricting military transfers to Iran, explicitly including S-300 air-defence systems, creating a major obstacle to Tehran’s defence procurement.

Iran and Russia joined the other Caspian littoral states at the third summit in Baku, continuing negotiations on regional security and cooperation.

The presidents of Iran, Russia and Kazakhstan met in Astana during the SCO gathering, discussing Iran’s nuclear programme and regional cooperation.

At a Washington press conference, Sergei Lavrov discussed a step-by-step approach linking Iranian responses to nuclear concerns with reciprocal easing of pressure.