 Vladimir Putin, on the first visit by a Kremlin leader to Iran in six decades, issued a veiled warning Tuesday against an attack on Iran and suggested that Moscow and Teheran should have a virtual veto on Western plans for pipelines from the oil and gas-rich Caspian Sea region. The visit beefed up Russian-Iranian efforts to keep out US influence in the area. However, Putin refused to set a date for completing Iran's first nuclear reactor, in a bid to avoid an outright show of support for Iran's nuclear program, which Washington says is aimed at developing atomic weapons. |